mother

moth|er¹ W1S1 [ˈmʌðə US -ər] n

[: Old English; Origin: modor]

1.) a female parent of a child or animal

▪ His mother and father are both doctors.

mother of two/three etc

(=mother of two/three etc children)

▪ Janet is a full-time teacher and a mother of two.

▪ the relationship between mother and child

▪ Goodnight, Mother.

▪ Mother said they'd met at university.

▪ If food is scarce, the mother will feed the smaller, weaker chicks.

mother cat/bird/hen etc

(=an animal that is a mother)

2.) be (like) a mother to sb

to care for someone as if you were their mother

▪ She's like a mother to them. If they need anything she always helps out.

3.) like a mother hen

if someone behaves like a mother hen, they try to protect their children too much and worry about them all the time

4.) learn/be taught sth at your mother's knee

to learn something when you are a very young child

▪ the prayers which he had been taught at his mother's knee

5.) the mother of sth

a) the origin or cause of something

▪ Westminster is known as 'the mother of parliaments'.

▪ Necessity is the mother of invention (=people have good ideas when the situation makes it necessary) .

b) informal a very severe or extreme type of something, usually something bad

▪ I woke up with the mother of all hangovers.

6.) spoken especially AmE something very large and usually very good

▪ a real mother of a car

7.) AmE taboo spoken ↑motherfucker

8.) Mother

a) used to address the woman who is in charge of a ↑convent

mother ²

mother² v [T]

to look after and protect someone as if you were their mother, especially by being too kind and doing everything for them

▪ I don't like being mothered!