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mother

1. A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child.

2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. Alas! poor country! . It can not be called our mother, but our grave. (Shak) I behold . The solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. (Landor)

3. An old woman or matron.

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

5. (Science: medicine) Mother Carey's chicken, a congenital mark upon the body; a naevus.

6. 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. It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is derived. (T.

7. (Science: biology) Arnold) Mother cell, 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 language from which another language has had its origin. The language of one's native land; native tongue. Mother water. See Mother liquor (above). Mother wit, natural or native wit or intelligence.