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Definition of mother noun from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary

      

    mother

     noun
    noun
    NAmE//ˈmʌðər//
     
     
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  1. 1a female parent of a child or animal; a person who is acting as a mother to a child I want to buy a present for my mother and father. the relationship between mother and baby She's the mother of twins. a mother of three (= with three children) an expectant (= pregnant) mother She was a wonderful mother to both her natural and adopted children. the mother chimpanzee caring for her young
  2. 2the title of a woman who is head of a convent (= a community of nuns) see Mother Superior
    3. Idioms
    at your mother's knee
     
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    when you were very young I learned these songs at my mother's knee.
    the mother of (all) something (informal)
     
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    used to emphasize that something is very large, unpleasant, important, etc. I got stuck in the mother of all traffic jams.
    necessity is the mother of invention (saying)
     
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    a difficult new problem forces people to think of a solution to it
    old enough to be somebody's father/mother (disapproving)
     
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    very much older than someone (especially used to suggest that a romantic relationship between the two people is not appropriate)
See mother in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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