1. [n]  a condition that is the inspiration for an activity or situation; "necessity is the mother of invention"
2. [n]  a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother); "the mother of three children"
3. [n]  a term of address for an elderly woman
4. [n]  a stringy slimy substance consisting of yeast cells and bacteria; forms during fermentation and is added to cider or wine to produce vinegar
5. [v]  make children; "Abraham begot Isaac"; "Men often father children but don't recognize them"
6. [v]  care for like a mother; "She fusses over her husband"

Mother
A group of today's most noted women writers, including Mary Higgins Clark, Amy Tan, Maya Angelou, and Joyce Carol Oates, contributes fiction, essays, and poetry reflections on motherhood. Reissue.

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1. \Moth"er\, n. [OE. moder, AS. m[=o]dor; akin to D.
   moeder, OS. m[=o]dar, G. mutter, OHG. muotar, Icel.
   m[=o][eth]ir, Dan. & Sw. moder, OSlav. mati, Russ. mate, Ir.
   & Gael. mathair, L. mater, Gr. mh`thr, Skr. m[=a]t[.r]; cf.
   Skr. m[=a] to measure. [root]268. Cf. {Material}, {Matrix},
   {Metropolis}, {Father}.]
   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. [Familiar]
   4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an
      abbess, etc.
   5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak.
   {Mother Carey's chicken} (Zo["o]l.), 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 {O. furcata} of the
      North Pacific.
   {Mother Carey's goose} (Zo["o]l.), the giant fulmar of the
      Pacific. See {Fulmar}.
   {Mother's mark} (Med.), a congenital mark upon the body; a
      n[ae]vus.
   

2. \Moth"er\, 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.
         It is the mother falsehood from which all idolatry is
         derived.                                 --T. Arnold.
   {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.
   

3. \Moth"er\, 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.
         The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the
         crown, would have mothered another body's child.
                                                  --Howell.
   

4. \Moth"er\, 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.
   Note: The film is composed of a mass of rapidly developing
         micro["o]rganisms of the genus {Mycoderma}, and in the
         {mother of vinegar} the micro["o]rganisms ({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}.
   

5. \Moth"er\, v. i.
   To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as
   vinegar.
   

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