*mother*

n. the use of chemical agents to treat or control disease (or mental illness); -- also used especially in reference to the use of chemicals to treat cancer. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Zoöl.) The eelpout. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A female ancestor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. godmōdor. ] A woman who becomes sponsor for a child in baptism. See Godfather [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The mother of one's father or mother. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Like a grandmother in age or manner; kind; indulgent. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The mother of one's grandfather or grandmother. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ A local Orkney name; cf. Icel. hār. ] (Zool.) The basking or liver shark; -- called also homer. See Liver shark, under Liver. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } a. [ Homo- + Gr. &unr_; heat. ] (Physiol.) Warm-blooded; homoiothermal; hæmatothermal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. moder, AS. mōdor; akin to D. moeder, OS. mōdar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar, Icel. mōðir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ. mate, Ir. & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh`thr, Skr. māt&rsdot_;; cf. Skr. mā to measure. √268. Cf. Material, Matrix, Metropolis, Father. ] 1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. [ 1913 Webster ]

Alas! poor country! . . . it can not
Be called our mother, but our grave. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. Landor. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An old woman or matron. [ Familiar ] [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an abbess, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived. T. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the crown, would have mothered another body's child. Howell. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as vinegar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Shortened from motherfucker as a euphemism. ] 1. Same as motherfucker. [ Vulgar slang ] [ PJC ]

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 ] [ PJC ]

n. (Electronics) The board containing the main circuits of an electronic device, especially computers. The term is used primarily in microcomputer literature, where it designates the board containing the main expansion bus, and usually also the cpu. On motherboards designed with an expansion bus, often all of the circuits not contained on an expansion card are on the motherboard. [ PJC ]

a. Thick, like mother; viscid. [ 1913 Webster ]

They oint their naked limbs with mothered oil. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A person who is deemed to be worthless or despicable; -- obscene and highly offensive. [ vulgar slang ]
Syn. -- rotter, rat, skunk, stinker, bum, crumb, lowlife, scum bag, cocksucker, mother. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. Any object viewed as annoying or frustrating; -- usually used as an expression of anger. [ vulgar slang ] [ PJC ]

n. The supposed author of a book of nursery rhymes first published as “Mother Goose's Melodies, ” and usually called simply “Mother Goose.” The first English edition is said to have been printed in 1719 in London. The actual persons who composed the rhymes is unknown, and earlier similar rhymes in French are a likely source for some of them. Mother Goose is also used as the title of a book of Mother Goose rhymes. [ PJC ]

n. The state of being a mother; the character or office of a mother. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A rural custom in England, of visiting one's parents on Midlent Sunday, -- supposed to have been originally visiting the mother church to make offerings at the high altar. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The mother of one's husband or wife. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The country of one's ancestors; -- same as fatherland. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. mōdorleás. ] Destitute of a mother; having lost a mother; as, motherless children. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. suggestive of or acting like a mother; motherly; maternal. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The state or quality of being motherly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ AS. mōdorlic. ] Of or pertaining to a mother; like, or suitable for, a mother; tender; maternal; as, motherly authority, love, or care. Hooker. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Maternal; paternal. -- Motherly, Maternal. Motherly, being Anglo-Saxon, is the most familiar word of the two when both have the same meaning. Besides this, maternal is confined to the feelings of a mother toward her own children, whereas motherly has a secondary sense, denoting a care like that of a mother for her offspring. There is, perhaps, a growing tendency thus to separate the two, confining motherly to the latter signification. “They termed her the great mother, for her motherly care in cherishing her brethren whilst young.” Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a manner of a mother. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Naked as when born; completely naked.
Syn. -- naked as the day one was born, in one's birthday suit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) The hard, iridescent, pearly internal layer of several kinds of shells, esp. of pearl oysters, river mussels, and the abalone shells; nacre. See Pearl. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An East Asiatic saxifrage (Saxifraga stolonifera) with racemes of small red-and-white flowers; spreads by numerous creeping stolons; called also strawberry geranium and strawberry saxifrage.
Syn. -- strawberry geranium, strawberry saxifrage, Saxifraga stolonifera, Saxifraga sarmentosam. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Bot.) An aromatic plant (Thymus Serphyllum); -- called also wild thyme. [ 1913 Webster ]

. A day appointed for the honor and uplift of motherhood by the loving remembrance of each person of his mother through the performance of some act of kindness, visit, tribute, or letter. The founder of the day is Anna Jarvis, of Philadelphia, who designated the second Sunday in May, or for schools the second Friday, as the time, and a white carnation as the badge. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Bot.) (a) A labiate herb (Leonurus Cardiaca), of a bitter taste, used popularly in medicine; lion's tail. (b) The mugwort. See Mugwort. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Consisting of, containing, or resembling, mother (in vinegar). [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Gr. my`rmhx an ant + qhra^n to hunt. ] (Zool.) Feeding upon ants; -- said of certain birds. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med., Physiol.) normal body temperature. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ Gr. &unr_; air + therapy. ] (Med.) The treatment of disease by inhalations of compressed or rarefied air. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Smothered p. pr. & vb. n. Smothering. ] [ OE. smotheren; akin to E. smoor. See Smoor. ] 1. To destroy the life of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate; as, to smother a child. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick covering, as of ashes, of smoke, or the like; as, to smother a fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal; as, to smother one's displeasure. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be suffocated or stifled. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To burn slowly, without sufficient air; to smolder. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. smorther. See Smother, v. t. ] 1. Stifling smoke; thick dust. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A state of suppression. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Not to keep their suspicions in smother. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. That which smothers or causes a sensation of smothering, as smoke, fog, the foam of the sea, a confused multitude of things.

Then they vanished, swallowed up in the grayness of the evening and the smoke and smother of the storm. The Century. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

Smother fly (Zool.), an aphid. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Chess) Checkmate given when movement of the king is completely obstructed by his own men. This can only occur when an opponent moves a knight into a position to give a check to the king. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

n. The quality or state of being smothery. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a smothering manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to smother; stifling. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. steópmōder. ] The wife of one's father by a subsequent marriage. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a person or who serves in place of the biological mother for child, as for caring or nurturing. [ PJC ]

2. a female animal that raises and nurses the offspring of another animal. [ PJC ]

3. a woman who becomes pregnant by an artificial procedure (one other than copulation), and bears a child to be raised by another person. The person on whose behalf the child is gestated and born is usually one of the biological parents. The embryo carried by the surrogate mother may be created by in vitro fertilization, and may have no genetic material from the surrogate mother, or the surrogate mother may be impregnated by artificial insemination, usually by sperm donated by the father who is to raise the child. The procedure is common but controversial, and in some states of the United States, contracts for surrogacy are not considered enforceable. [ PJC ]

n. [ Thermo- + therapy. ] (Med.) Treatment of disease by heat, esp. by hot air. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]