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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 (gcide)

Mauther \Mau"ther\ (m[add]"[th][~e]r), n. [Cf. AS. maeg[thorn] a
maid.] [Also spelled {mawther}, {mother}.]
A girl; esp., a great, awkward girl; a wench. [Prov. Eng.]
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Mother \Moth"er\ (m[u^][th]"[~e]r), n. [OE. moder, AS. m[=o]dor;
akin to D. moeder, OS. m[=o]dar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar,
Icel. m[=o][eth]ir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ.
mate, Ir. & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh`thr, Skr.
m[=a]t[.r]; cf. Skr. m[=a] to measure. [root]268. Cf.
{Material}, {Matrix}, {Metropolis}, {Father}.]
1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a
woman who has borne a child.
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2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of
birth or origin; generatrix.
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Alas! poor country! . . . it can not
Be called our mother, but our grave. --Shak.
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I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother
of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand
years. --Landor.
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3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar]
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4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an
abbess, etc.
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5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak.
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{Mother Carey's chicken} (Zool.), any one of several species
of small petrels, as the stormy petrel ({Procellaria
pelagica}), and Leach's petrel ({Oceanodroma leucorhoa}),
both of the Atlantic, and {Oceanodroma furcata} of the
North Pacific.

{Mother Carey's goose} (Zool.), the giant fulmar of the
Pacific. See {Fulmar}.

{Mother's mark} (Med.), a congenital mark upon the body; a
birthmark; a naevus.
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Mother \Moth"er\, a.
Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; as,
mother language; also acting the part, or having the place of
a mother; producing others; originating.
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It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is
derived. --T. Arnold.
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{Mother cell} (Biol.), a cell which, by endogenous divisions,
gives rise to other cells (daughter cells); a parent cell.


{Mother church}, the original church; a church from which
other churches have sprung; as, the mother church of a
diocese.

{Mother country}, the country of one's parents or ancestors;
the country from which the people of a colony derive their
origin.

{Mother liquor} (Chem.), the impure or complex residual
solution which remains after the salts readily or
regularly crystallizing have been removed.

{Mother queen}, the mother of a reigning sovereign; a queen
mother.

{Mother tongue}.
(a) A language from which another language has had its
origin.
(b) The language of one's native land; native tongue.

{Mother water}. See {Mother liquor} (above).

{Mother wit}, natural or native wit or intelligence.
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Mother \Moth"er\, n. [Akin to D. modder mud, G. moder mold, mud,
Dan. mudder mud, and to E. mud. See {Mud}.]
A film or membrane which is developed on the surface of
fermented alcoholic liquids, such as vinegar, wine, etc., and
acts as a means of conveying the oxygen of the air to the
alcohol and other combustible principles of the liquid, thus
leading to their oxidation.
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Note: The film is composed of a mass of rapidly developing
microorganisms of the genus {Mycoderma}, and in the
{mother of vinegar} the microorganisms ({Mycoderma
aceti}) composing the film are the active agents in the
Conversion of the alcohol into vinegar. When thickened
by growth, the film may settle to the bottom of the
fluid. See {Acetous fermentation}, under
{Fermentation}.
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Mother \Moth"er\, v. i.
To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as
vinegar.
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mother \moth"er\ (m[u^][th]"[~e]r), n. [Shortened from
motherfucker as a euphemism.]
1. Same as {motherfucker}. [Vulgar slang]
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2. A person or thing with some exceptional quality, as great
size or power; as, a grizzly stuck his nose in my tent and
I grabbed my pistol and shot the mother. [Slang]
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Mother \Moth"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mothered}; p. pr. & vb.
n. {Mothering}.]
To adopt as a son or daughter; to perform the duties of a
mother to.
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The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the
crown, would have mothered another body's child.
--Howell.
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