mother

from The Century Dictionary.

• To be or act as a mother to; treat in a motherly fashion.
• To become concreted, as the thick matter of liquors; become mothery.
• noun Same as mauther.
• noun A woman in relation to her child; female parent: also used of female animals in relation to their offspring.
• noun That which has given birth to anything; source of anything; generatrix.
• noun A familiar appellation or term of address of an old or elderly woman.
• noun A title sometimes given to an abbess, and to other women holding an important position in religious or semi-religious institutions.
• noun A hysterical malady.
• noun The thickest plate, forming the body or principal part, of the astrolabe.
• noun Dregs; lees.
• noun A stringy, mucilaginous substance which forms in vinegar during the acetous fermentation, and the presence of which sets up and hastens this kind of fermentation. It is produced by a plant, Mycoderma aceti, the germs of which, like those of the yeast-plant, exist in the atmosphere.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb To adopt as a son or daughter; to perform the duties of a mother to.
• noun A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child.
• noun That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix.
• noun Familiar An old woman or matron.
• noun The female superior or head of a religious house, as an abbess, etc.
• noun obsolete Hysterical passion; hysteria.
• noun (Zoöl.) 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.
• noun (Zoöl.) the giant fulmar of the Pacific. See Fulmar.
• noun (Med.) a congenital mark upon the body; a birthmark; a nævus.
• noun Vulgar slang Same as motherfucker.
• noun Slang A person or thing with some exceptional quality, as great size or power.
• noun 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.
• intransitive verb To become like, or full of, mother, or thick matter, as vinegar.
• adjective Received by birth or from ancestors; native, natural; ; also acting the part, or having the place of a mother; producing others; originating.
• adjective (Biol.) a cell which, by endogenous divisions, gives rise to other cells (daughter cells); a parent cell.
• adjective the original church; a church from which other churches have sprung.
• adjective the country of one's parents or ancestors; the country from which the people of a colony derive their origin.
• adjective (Chem.) the impure or complex residual solution which remains after the salts readily or regularly crystallizing have been removed.
• adjective the mother of a reigning sovereign; a queen mother.
• adjective The language of one's native land; native tongue.
• adjective See Mother liquor (above).
• adjective natural or native wit or intelligence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun nonstandard A cat that catches moths.
• noun Something that is the greatest or most significant of its kind.
• noun euphemistic, vulgar, slang motherfucker.
• noun euphemistic, colloquial A striking example.
• noun A (human) female who (a) parents a child or (b) gives birth to a baby. Sometimes used in reference to a pregnant female, possibly as a shortened form of mother-to-be (c).
• noun A female parent of an animal.
• noun figuratively A female ancestor.
• noun figuratively A source or origin, viewed affectionately.
• noun when followed by a surname A title of respect for one's mother-in-law.
• noun figuratively Any elderly woman, especially within a particular community.
• noun figuratively Any person or entity which performs mothering.
• noun 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.
• verb transitive To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a term of address for an elderly woman
• verb make children
• verb care for like a mother
• noun a term of address for a mother superior