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.
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.
The queen, to have put lady Elizabeth besides the
crown, would have mothered another body's child.
--Howell.
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}.