noun
    
    plural -ers
    
    [count] :a female parent
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    [count] :a woman who is thought of as being like a mother
    
    
    
    [count] :a woman who invents or begins something - usually singular
    
    
    
    
    
    [singular] :a cause or origin of something
    
    
    
    [count] :mother superior - used especially as a title or as a form of address
    
    
    
    
    
    [singular] informal - used to say that something is larger, better, worse, etc., than all other things of the same kind
    
    
    
    [count] US offensive :motherfucker
    
    
    
    learn (something) at your mother's knee
    
    
    
    necessity is the mother of invention
    
    used to say that new ways to do things are found or created when there is a strong and special need for them;
    
    verb
    
    -ers; -ered; -ering
    
    [+ obj] to give birth to (a child)
    
    
    
    to be or act as mother to (someone) :to care for or protect (someone) like a mother