Film and Television

The Oxford Dictionary of... The Oxford Pocket Dictionary... The Concise Oxford... -Ologies and -Isms Further reading

mother

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | Copyright

moth·er / ˈmə[voicedth]ər/ • n. 1. a woman in relation to a child or children to whom she has given birth. ∎ a person who provides the care and affection normally associated with a female parent: my adoptive mother. ∎ a female animal in relation to its offspring: [as adj.] a mother penguin. ∎ archaic (esp. as a form of address) an elderly woman. ∎ (Mother, Mother Superior, or Reverend Mother) (esp. as a title or form of address) the head of a female religious community. ∎ [as adj.] denoting an institution or organization from which more recently founded institutions of the same type derive: the mother church. ∎ fig. something that is the origin of or stimulus for something else: the wish was the mother of the deed. ∎ inf. an extreme example or very large specimen of something: I got stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. 2. vulgar slang short for motherfucker. • v. [tr.] 1. [often as n.] (mothering) bring up (a child) with care and affection: the art of mothering. ∎ look after kindly and protectively, sometimes excessively so: she felt mothered by her older sister. 2. dated give birth to. DERIVATIVES: moth·er·hood / -ˌhoŏd/ n. moth·er·less adj. moth·er·less·ness n. moth·er·like / -ˌlīk/ adj. & adv. ORIGIN: Old English mōdor, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch moeder and German Mutter, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin mater and Greek mētēr.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"mother." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"mother." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mother.html

"mother." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-mother.html

Learn more about citation styles

mother

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

mother1
A. female parent OE.; term of address to an elderly woman; applied to the B. V. M. XIV; head of community of nuns XVII.

B. † womb XIV; † hysteria XV. OE. mōdor = OS. mōdar (Du. moeder), OHG. muotar (G. mutter), ON. móðir (wanting in Gothic):- Gmc. *mar- :- IE. *māter-, whence also L. māter, Gr. mātēr, mḗtēr, OSl. mati, OIr. māthir, Skr. mātā. Important collocations are: m. country (XVI), after F. terre mère; m. earth (XVI), cf. L. Terra Mater, taken as a goddess; m. land (XVIII); m. tongue (XIV), in which mother is orig. uninflected g.
Hence vb. be a mother to. XVI. Mothering Sunday, Midlent Sunday, so called from the custom of going a-mothering (XVII), i.e. visiting parents, on that day. motherly OE. mōdorliċ.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mother.html

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mother.html

Learn more about citation styles

Mother

-Ologies and -Isms | 1986 | Copyright

281. Mother

matriarchy: a system of social order wherein final authority is vested in the mother or eldest female and in which descent is reckoned in the female line. —matriarchal , adj.
matricentric: tending to move toward or centering upon the mother.
matricide: 1. the killing of one’s mother.; 2. one who has killed his mother. —matricidal , adj.
matriliny: tracing of descent through the mother’s side of a family. —matrilinear , adj.
momism: an excessive attachment and devotion of children to their mothers, resulting in a child’s dependence and failure to achieve emotional emancipation.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Mother." -Ologies and -Isms. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Mother." -Ologies and -Isms. 1986. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505200292.html

"Mother." -Ologies and -Isms. 1986. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2505200292.html

Learn more about citation styles

mother

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | | Copyright

mother2 † dregs, scum XVI; (in full m. of vinegar) mucilaginous substance produced in vinegar by fermentation XVII. corr. in form and sense to MDu. moeder (mod. moer), G. mutter; perh. identical with prec.; the orig. notion may have been that the substance was a portion of the ‘mother’ or original crude substance.
So also in mother-of-pearl iridescent inner layer of shells. XVI.

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mother1.html

T. F. HOAD. "mother." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-mother1.html

Learn more about citation styles

Mother

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers | 2001 | Copyright

MOTHER

SeeMAT

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"Mother." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Mother." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406800601.html

"Mother." International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. 2001. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3406800601.html

Learn more about citation styles

mother

Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes | 2007 | Copyright

mother •blather, foregather, gather, slather •farther, father, lather, rather •grandfather • stepfather • godfather •forefather •altogether, feather, heather, leather, nether, tether, together, weather, wether, whether •bather • sunbather •bequeather, breather •dither, hither, slither, swither, thither, whither, wither, zither •either, neither •bother, pother •Rhondda • mouther • loather •smoother, soother •another, brother, mother, other, smother, t'other •grandmother • stepmother •godmother • housemother •stepbrother • further

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA
Chicago
APA

"mother." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"mother." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-mother.html

"mother." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-mother.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Mother's milk: The start of something special Magazine article from: Community Practitioner; 5/1/2003
	Mothers given honor today around the world.(Main News) Newspaper article from: Manila Bulletin; 5/11/2008
	Mothers of the Twentieth Century.('Immigrant Mothers: Narratives of Race and... Magazine article from: College Literature; 3/22/2002