Oceanodroma leucorhoa
(gcide) | Mother \Moth"er\ (m[u^][th]"[~e]r), 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.
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2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of
birth or origin; generatrix.
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Alas! poor country! . . . it can not
Be called our mother, but our grave. --Shak.
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I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother
of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand
years. --Landor.
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3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar]
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4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an
abbess, etc.
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5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak.
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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.
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