MOTHER definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary (2025)

Your mother is the woman who gave birth to you. You can also call someone your mother if she brings you up as if she was this woman. You can call your mother 'Mother'.

She sat on the edge of her mother's bed.

She's an English teacher and a mother of two children. [+ of]

Mother and child form a close attachment.

I'm here, Mother.

Synonyms: female parent, mum [British, informal], mom [US, Canadian, informal], mummy [British, informal] More Synonyms of mother

If a woman mothers a child, she looks after it and brings it up, usually because she is its mother.

Colleen had dreamed of mothering a large family. [VERB noun]

mothering uncountable noun

The reality of mothering is frequently very different from the romantic ideal.

If you mother someone, you treat them with great care and affection, as if they were a small child.

She felt a great need to mother him. [VERB noun]

1.

2.(often capital, esp as a term of address)

a person's own mother

3.

4.(often capital) mainly archaic

5.

6.

7.

mother superior

8. Christian Science

9.(modifier)

mother wit

11. See be mother

12. See the mother of all …

13.

to give birth to or produce

14.

to nurture, protect, etc as a mother

Also called: mother of vinegar

1.

a woman who has borne a child; esp., a woman as she is related to her child or children

2.

3.

the female parent of a plant or animal

4.

that which gives birth to something, is the origin or source of something, or nurtures in the manner of a mother

5.

6.

used as a title of affectionate respect

7. Slang

somewhat vulgar

8.

of, like, or like that of a mother

9.

derived or learned from or as if from one's mother; native

mother tongue

10.

mother church

11.

to be the mother of; give birth to

often used figuratively

12.

to look after or care for as a mother does

the mother of all

1.

2. Obsolete

1.

a female parent

2.(often cap)

one's female parent

3.

a mother-in-law, stepmother, or adoptive mother

4.

a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent

5.

a term of familiar address for an old or elderly woman

6. See mother superior

7.

to be a mother to someone

8.

the qualities characteristic of a mother, as maternal affection

It is the mother in her showing itself

9.

something or someone that gives rise to or exercises protecting care over something else; origin or source

10.(in disc recording)

a mold from which stampers are made

11. See mother of all

12.

being a mother

a mother bird

13.

of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a mother

mother love

14.

derived from or as if from one's mother; native

his mother culture

15.

the mother company and its affiliates

the mother computer and its network of terminals

16.

to be the mother of; give origin or rise to

17.

18.

to care for or protect like a mother; act maternally toward

19.

a woman with a need to mother

a stringy, mucilaginous substance consisting of various bacteria, esp Mycoderma aceti, that forms on the surface of a fermenting liquid and causes fermentation when added to other liquids, as in changing wine or cider to vinegar

Also called: mother of vinegar

1. motherfucker

2.