HOW TO PRONOUNCE
mother
/ˈmʌðɚ/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 0:47
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What does mother mean?
noun
- A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, fostered, etc).
- A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby.
- A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.
More meanings (25)
noun
- (figuratively) A female ancestor.
- (figuratively) A source or origin.
- Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind. (See mother of all.)
- (figuratively) Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
- (figuratively) Any person or entity which performs mothering.
- Dregs, lees; a stringy, mucilaginous or film- or membrane-like substance (consisting of a culture of acetobacters) which develops in fermenting alcoholic liquids (such as wine, or cider), and turns the alcohol into acetic acid with the help of oxygen from the air.
- A locomotive which provides electrical power for a slug.
- The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed.
- The female superior or head of a religious house; an abbess, etc.
- A disc produced from the electrotyped master, used in manufacturing phonograph records.
- A person who is admired, respected, or looked up to within a particular fandom or community; see also: serve cunt
- A striking example. (Appears as "mother of a(n) __".)
- Alternative form of moth-er.
- A title given to a nun or a priestess.
- A title given to the personification of a force of nature or abstract concept, such as Mother Nature, Mother Russia, or Mother Earth.
- (dated) A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
- (dated) A term of address for one's wife.
- (obsolete) Hysterical passion; hysteria; the uterus.
- (slang, vulgar) Motherfucker.
verb
- To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child. (Compare father.)
- To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
- To cause to contain mother (“that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar”).
- To develop mother.
proper noun
- One of the triune goddesses of the Lady in Wicca alongside the Crone and Maiden and representing a woman older than a girlish Maiden but younger than an aged Crone.
- (dated) One's mother.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈmʌðɚ/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
“I don’t want to be a man. O Wendy’s mother, if I was to wake up and feel there was a beard!”
And if so, this flesh must have laid down to rot and to crumble to its mother earth, to rise no more.
More book examples (3)
As she sat at the table, she kept telling her youngest daughter to “be careful now, and not drop anything on mother.”
When a woman chose to be a mother, she allowed the child-longing to grow within her till it worked its natural miracle.
“Your mother was very lovely, Paul, and you look a little like her. But her eyes and hair are darker than yours.”