| mother | 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. 4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an abbess, etc. 5. <medicine> Mother Carey's chicken, a congenital mark upon the body; a naevus. 6. 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. 7. <biology> Arnold) Mother cell, 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 language from which another language has had its origin. The language of one's native land; native tongue. Mother water. See Mother liquor (above). Mother wit, natural or native wit or intelligence. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| mother cell | A cell which, by division, gives rise to two or more daughter cell's. Synonym: brood cell, metrocyte, parent cell. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother-child relations | Interaction between the mother and the child. (12 Dec 1998) |
| mother colony | A colony which gives rise to a secondary colony (a daughter colony), the latter growing on the surface of the former; the mother colony is larger than the daughter colony, and the characteristics of the colony's may differ. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother cyst | A hydatid cyst from the inner, or germinal, layer, from which secondary cyst's containing scoleces (daughter cyst's) are developed; sometimes tertiary cyst's (granddaughter cyst's) are developed within the daughter cyst's; occurs most frequently in the liver, but may be found in other organs and tissues; symptoms are those of a tumour of the part affected. Synonym: parent cyst. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother liquor | The saturated solution remaining after a crystallization or precipitation. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother-of-pearl | <zoology> The hard pearly internal layer of several kinds of shells, especially. Of pearl oysters, river mussels, and the abalone shells; nacre. See Pearl. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mother-of-thyme | <botany> An aromatic plant (Thymus Serphyllum). Synonym: wild thyme. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| mother of vinegar | In vinegar, the fungus of acetous fermentation appearing as a stringy sediment. Origin: A.S. Modder, mud (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother star | The single star figure at the end of prophase in mitosis. Synonym: mother star. Origin: mono-+ G. Aster, star (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother superior complex | The tendency of a psychotherapist to play a mothering role to the detriment of the therapeutic process. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother surrogate | One who substitutes for or takes the place of the mother. (05 Mar 2000) |
| mother yaw | A large granulomatous lesion, considered to be the initial lesion in yaws, most commonly present on the hand, leg, or foot. Synonym: buba madre, frambesioma, mamanpian, protopianoma. (05 Mar 2000) |
| pollen mother cell | <plant biology> A diploid plant cell that forms four microspores by meiosis, the microspores give rise to pollen grains in seed plants. (18 Nov 1997) |
| surrogate mother | A woman who has been contracted with to carry a pregnancy for another woman or couple. (05 Mar 2000) |