mother, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

mother n.

1. in senses referring to a woman or female occupations.

(a) (also marm) a madam, a bawd, a procuress; often comb. with a proper name as Mother —.

1552		G. Walker Detection of Vyle and Detestable Use of Dice Play 35: This mother baud undertook to serve his turn [...] having at home a well-painted, mannerly harlot, as good a maid as Fletcher’s mare.
c.1567		L. Wager Life and Repentence of Marie Magdalene D2: When ye are come to be an old maude, Then it will be best for you to play the baude. In our countrey there be such olde mother bees, Which are glad to cloke baudry for their fees.
1598		A. Munday Death of Huntington in Dodsley Old Plays VIII V i: Good bawd, good mother B.
1607		R. West Court of Conscience E4v: Mother Breton [lives] i’ the lane that leads to spittlefeild.
1635		J. Shirley Lady of Pleasure IV i: One word, Mother; have not you been a cat in your days?
1663		Wandring-Whores Complaint 3: Ruth. How do you now Mother? Bawd. Very well.
1698		Elegy on the Death of Trade in Harleian Misc. II (1809) 290: A worthy old dame, Mother Trade was her name.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Mother a Bawd.
1723		C. Walker Authentick Memoirs of Sally Salisbury 118: This the officious obliging Mother observes, and [...] sends one of her Nuns to fetch a Night-Gown.
1728		Benefits of Cuckolds Mother Wybourn [and] Mother Needham are now entirely eclipsed by your much more resplendent Merit, . . . which is greater than that of all the Mothers in Town put together.
1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 48: Together with Mother Bitchington’s crying out, Why you pocky Toad, do you think the Gentleman came here without Breeches?
1729		Hell upon Earth 9: The celebrated Mother H—y—d Cursing, Rending, and Roaring [...] to drown the Cries and Groans of departing Maidenheads.
1732		Harlot’s Progress 7: Comes an old Baud, ’twas Mother Bent—y.
1744		Machine 10: Let not the Joy she proffers be Essay’d, / Without the well-try’d cundum’s friendly Aid, / By trusty Mother Lewis best supplie’d.
1756		E. Thompson Demi-Rep 6: Mother griffiths, bawdy Matron.
1761		Nancy Dawson’s Jests 11: The famous, or rather the infamous mother Cole, of bawdy memory, was dying.
1779		Nocturnal Revels I 12: Mother Douglas, well known by the name of Mother Cole.
c.1780		Correct List of the Sporting Ladies [broadsheet] Mother Ash---h [...] has a noble stud of young cattle [who] give great satisfaction to all who ride well, particularly if tackle be stour, and sit well.
1790		‘Bumper Allnight. Esquire’ Honest Fellow 88: Mother Fanning we’ll rout, / Kick her bullies about.
1793		Sporting Mag. Aug. II 307/2: Mother Johnson, the King’s-place abbess, and one of the most notorious purveyors of that celebrated flesh-market.
1795		Fortnights Ramble through London 15: Old mother Cole, the methodistical procuress [Ibid.] 80: Dolly Dandle, Kitty Cunning, Molly Mischance, Dame Dismal and Mother Midnight apepar undressed, almost naked.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1823		‘Jon Bee’ A Dict. of the Turf, The Ring, The Chase, etc. 5: Aunt — a bawd or old procuress, or hanger-on upon w—s, sometimes called Mammy or Mother —.
1824		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 26 Sept. 7/2: Mrs Bertram, alias Mother Bang, well known on the town.
1826		Pierce Egan’s Life in London 15 Oct. 719/2: A stout, portly-looking woman, named Matilda Love, but who is known in her own circle as ‘Mother Webb’; a dirty-looking fishwoman, named Tape, and her daughter, a very pert, forward young hussey, were brought before the Magistrates [...] Love is the occupier of several houses of ill-fame [...] Tape, is employed by Love, to procure for her very young girls, and when they are dressed up, they are, sent to her house.
1830		Egan Finish to the Adventures of Tom and Jerry (1889) 272: She was unfortunately met by some of her female companions in vice, in company with Old Mother —, well known in the annals of infamy.
1830		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) 3 July 3/2: Mother W. whose premises front so conveniently on Broadway [...] for the accomodation of married men.
1837		‘Mother Jones’ Ticklish Minstrel 35: There’s a bawdy-house keeper I admire [...] And sweet mother Jones is the shickster I love.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 12 Feb. n.p.: Indictment of Old Mother Miller who has Kept a House of Prostitution for the Last Thirty Years.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 25 Mar. 2/1: His sister, Mother Samuels, is well known to have more girls lag’d out of her crib than any baud in Shoemaker’s Row.
1844		New Sprees of London 33: This street is full of knocking shops of rather a low character [...] A niece of the late Mother Mendoza also has a crib here, which is conducted pretty fairish.
1850		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 18 May n.p.: A very enterprising matron in Satan’s most select department is said to be ‘old mother Potter’ of 28 Church street.
c.1850		Peeping Tom (London) 32 128/2: Mother Cummings’s well-known brothel.
1857		Paul Pry (London) 15 Aug. n.p.: [of a woman working for a rich courtesan] The mother, who goes by the name of Ann Rogers, acts as housekeeper, and receives a salary for her multifarious services.
1863		Criminal Life (NY) 19 Dec. n.p.: Marm Bemis keeps a crib in Hawkins street, and her array of pelicans is awful to look upon.
1869		J. Greenwood Seven Curses of London 289: Of course I didn’t have ten pounds, nor ten shillings hardly; but Mother H— said that she would lend the money.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 2: Abesse f. The mistress of a brothel; ‘mother’.
1902		D. St John Memoirs of Madge Buford 104: ‘Let’s take her to Mother Jones for a short razzle dazzle [...] Here, Mother, here’s your dollar; which room?’.
1902		Truth (Sydney) 14 Sept. 5/7: ‘old mother fraser’s’ as Melbourne’s most famous brothel of the sixties and seventies was known.
1913		G.J. Kneeland Commercialized Prostitution in N.Y. City 92: It is not uncommon for the girls as well as the customers to call her ‘mother’.
1932		T. Croft Cloven Hoof 123: He hammered upon that brothel door. [...] An old woman whom Olaf kissed resoundingly and styled ‘mother’, opened the door and led us in.
1939		D. Maurer ‘Prostitutes & Criminal Argots’ in Lang. Und. (1981) 117/2: landlady. Proprietress of a house. Also aunt, madam, mother.

(b) a public house landlady or similar.

1833		M. Scott Tom Cringle’s Log (1862) 221: Twelve times five is half-a-crown; there’s a dollar for you, old mother Popandchokem – now give me back five shillings [Ibid.] 226: Here, old Mother Slush [...] Hand us up a dozen bottles of spruce, do you hear? [Ibid.] 239: Pickled mackerel, eggs, and cold tongue – anything that mother Dingychops can give us.
1849		Paul Pry 19 Mar. 1/2: [T]he puritanical cove [...] being no less an individual than the landlord, old Jack Crouch, formerly a footman to a fat fidgetty old dowager, where his finical manners amongst the servants obtained for him the name of Miss Crouch, and afterwards generally known at the West-end of the town as old Mother Crouch.
1896		A. Morrison Child of the Jago (1982) 63: Mother Gapp, the landlady, hung hysterical on the beer-pulls in the bar.
1898		W. Besant Orange Girl I 236: Your place stinks, mother [...] and it’s so thick with tobacco and the steam of the punch that a body can’t see across.
1923		N. Anderson Hobo 139: ‘Mother’ Greenstein, who keeps a restaurant on South State Street, is the idol of a great many ‘bos’.

1925		‘Bartimeus’ ‘Great Security’ in Great Security 43: ‘Mother,’ he said abruptly, ‘I’m goin’ foreign.’.
1936		D. Stivens Tramp and Other Stories 176: ‘You come inside,’ she said, ‘if you get cold — won’t you, Faither?’ They always addressed each other in this way. ‘Yes, Moither,’ the old man said.
1943		‘Henry Green’ Caught (2001) 36: I said to the Mrs, I says, ‘Well, mother, your old man’s in trouble again.’.
1973		J. Wambaugh Onion Field 398: ‘You used to love Mexican and Italian food when I first married you.’ ‘I still do, Moms’.

(d) (also muzzer) the self-proclaimed name of a female owner of a pet, esp. a dog; thus Come to mother, baby.

1922		Wodehouse Clicking of Cuthbert 197: He [i.e. a dog] was his muzzer’s pet, he was.
1924		Galsworthy White Monkey 41: There’s Ting and a cat! [...] Give him to me, Ellen. Come with Mother, darling!
1940		N. Mitford Pigeon Pie 139: Many mothers of dogs had fetched their little ones home.

(e) (US black) a married woman.

1971

H.E. Roberts Third Ear n.p.: mother n. […] 2. an aware married lady; e.g. Mother is really together.

(f) (US black) the senior member of a pimp’s stable of whores.

1977

J.L. Dillard Lex. Black Eng. 88: The most trusted one – often the oldest in his service and not necessarily the most beautiful or the favorite – is the bottom whore, bottom woman, bottom bitch, or main lady and is given a certain amount of authority over her ‘sisters.’ She is also sometimes called Mother.

(g) used as a female self-reference.

1989

W. Kotzwinkle Midnight Examiner (1990) 172: Howard, Mother has made a tragic discovery. I’ve spent my life in the wrong profession.

2. the ultimate example of something, the extreme version of something, something exceptional [popularized in the 1990s as mockery of the hyperbolic use of the phr. mother of all battles by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein (1937–2006) to describe the Gulf War, 1991].

[1627		Hist. of Edward II (1680) 46: We leave the success to the will of Fortune, who in nothing is more tickle and wanton, than in the event of Battles, which are seldom gain’d by multitude, the Mother of Confusion].
1878		F.H. Hart Sazerac Lying Club 99: I seed the biggest trout I ever laid eyes on [...] The mother of all trouts in Reese River, by thunder!
1919		E. Dyson ‘Weepin’ Willie’ in ‘Hello, Soldier!’ 49: But his jills would sniff ’n’ shiver in the mother of a fright.
1921		Morn. Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld) 1 July n.p.: [heading] Catarrh, the Mother of all Diseases.
1957		C. Himes Imabelle 103: Goldy straightened up on the seat, looking like the mother of all the evil ghosts.
1964		L. Hansberry Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window in Three Negro Plays (1969) I i: My brother is the Prince, but your sister is the Mother of them all!
1996		J. Baker Death Minus Zero (1998) 184: I’ve got the mother of all hangovers.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] It took just under twelve months to set it [i.e. a betting coup] up, but it was the mother of all paydays for Ronnie.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 192: [He] could go anywhere, do anything — build himself a fortress in Idaho, with the mother of all hot tubs!
2000		Indep. Rev. 27 Mar. 16: The mother of all jazz fusions.
2023		M. Herron Secret Hours 263: ‘You might have a bit of a concussion. You’ve almost certainly got a mother of a headache’.

3. in male homosexual contexts, usu. implying effeminacy.

(a) (US black) an effeminate (or homosexual) man.

1934		L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 123: Ever since ‘Mother’ Jones came back I’ve learned to look forward to mealtime again. That ‘fag’ can cook like nobody’s business.
1941		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 13 Sept. 15: A growing number of the Capon Tribe [...] they actually switch when they walk and call each other ‘mother’.
1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 143: He waved a lace handkerchief at all: – Oh my pets, my pet! Your mother’s awfully late tonight, but she’ll try and make it up to you!
1949		‘Swasarnt Nerf’ et al. Gay Girl’s Guide 2: This booklet has been procured for you through the kindness of your dear mother (or perhaps, sister).
1967		J. Orton Diaries (1986) 16 May 168: ‘There was this poor old queen, d’y see? She had nowhere to go.’ [...] ‘Don’t you worry , mother,’ the young queen had said. ‘You can come and live with us.’.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 221: Mother had freaked off with some dirty bastard.

(b) (US gay) a homosexual who introduces another into the gay world.

1949		‘Swasarnt Nerf’ et al. Gay Girl’s Guide 13: mother: Male who has brought out subject. Also used humorously in conversation or correspondence.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 30: mother (n.): The older male homosexual, most always effeminate, who assumes a protective or guiding role; this term is somewhat more ‘friendly’ than auntie (q.v.).
1965		K. Marlowe Mr Madam (1967) 28: If you ever need Mother, just call and let me know.
1970		J.P. Stanley ‘Homosexual Sl.’ in AS XLV:1/2 58: mother n Male who brings another male into homosexual society and introduces him around.
1988		H. Max Gay (S)language.
2010		W. Ings ‘Trolling the Beat to Working the Soob’ in Int’l Jrnl Lexicog. 23:1 70: A mother was generally an older man who acted as an educator or protector of young male prostitutes. Sometimes he acted as a procurer.
2019		P. Baker Fabulosa 295/1: mother an older gay man.

1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 67: ‘Uh, well, y’ see bos, we just about got here and . . .’ ‘Yes, dear. Mother knows!’.
1963		J. Rechy City of Night 330: Ah saw this cute butch numbuh [...] and Ah thought: Well, your muthuh’s gonna go aftuh that one!
1983		N. Heard House of Slammers 14: Do you hear Mother bitching? Oh, yes, she is, dear.
2012		(con. early 1960s) E. White in N.Y. Rev. Bks 25 Oct. 🌐 I would in effect teach them how to camp—[...] how to refer to oneself (as Auden does in a poem) as ‘Miss Me’ or ‘Your Mother’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 86: That’s crazy. Mother is on Mars! [...] 175: ‘Mother got to put her life back together’.

4. (US black) in pl., constr. with the, the ritualistic name-calling based on insulting one’s rival’s mother.

1962

(con. WWII) J.O. Killens And Then We Heard The Thunder (1964) 54: I have too much love and respect for women to play the mothers or the dozens or whatever you call it.

5. (also motha, mothah, mudder, mutha) as abbr. of var. senses of motherfucker n.

(a) a person, usu. derog.

1948		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam News 17 Jan. 21: The word ‘mother’ is desecrated and taken in vain [...] and you realize the profanity is a Harlem form of banter.
1955		S. Whitmore Solo 42: Hell, this mother never could blow.
1959		J. Blake letter 6 Aug. in Joint (1972) 143: They call the spade Steam, and he is a big black mothah.
1960		‘Lord Buckley’ Hiparama of the Classics 24: Yeah, Nero, Was an All High Flip Out in Orbit Mother to End All Mothers.
1967		F. Salas Tattoo the Wicked Cross (1981) 231: I’ll kill that mutha’.
1967		T.C. Bambara ‘Talking Bout Sonny’ in Gorilla, My Love (1972) 80: You’re too damned dead, that’s what. A bottle-tipping vegetable mother.
1968		N. Heard Howard Street 131: Them mothas in New York followed me and took every cent I had.
1969		N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 7: I’m a big black mother, and I hate your fucking guts.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 89: That mother’s so mean he don’t eat.
1973		Tharunka (Sydney) 8 Nov. 28/3: [A] baldy-headed mother in his underwear in the passenger seat, looking back all the time, beside another, younger fucker with a five o’clock shadow on his head.
1974		G.F. Newman You Flash Bastard 71: I don’t know what the fuck you mothers’re talking about!
1977		L. Heinemann Close Quarters (1987) 28: ‘Wall, kiss ma ass!’ said Haskins. ‘Cross, ya mutha, what’s yo pleasure?’.
1984		Tracks (Aus.) Aug. 3: To all you surfie mothers (i.e., ‘mother-fuckers’). We are sick to death of hearing all this shit about us westies [Moore 1993].
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 283: Break this mother’s back.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 32: One time is all it takes mudder.
2004		K. Bruen ‘Fade To . . . Brooklyn’ in Brooklyn Noir 310: Those mothers thrive on knowing where you’re at.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] Mother didn’t let me down either. Pulled up swift and on the button.
2012		IOL Cape Western News (SA) 15 Feb. 🌐 Lock the mother up for perverting the course of justice.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 54: Lance ‘Lanky’ Campion is one ruthless mother.

(b) as a comparative.

1967

P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 145: You and James are like houses — painted white outside, and blacker’n a mother inside.

1961		(con. 1945) G. Forbes Goodbye to Some (1963) 111: Just couldn’t line up those three little peas in the little box and get those mothers all in their holes at the same time.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 188: Some wives is gonna read that mother you writin’, you dig what I’m sayin’?
1985		G. Tate ‘Atomic Dog’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 31: That chick who sings [...] When she opened up, it was Patti LaBelle all up and down. White chick, too. She burned that mother down.
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 97: When I thought about what she could do to my neck with those mothers, I could hardly stand it.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 162: [of boots] ‘If James here can find the mothers, I’ll put them on the ship’s manifest’.
2000		F. Kellerman Stalker (2001) 27: She did know that shotguns weren’t warm and fuzzy firearms. They were hard to control, because they were heavy mothers.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 220: Let’s get back to the shop and get this mother set up.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 46: ‘This time, you mother,’ he told it [...] He pulled. The trunk slid forward.

(d) someone or something exceptional.

1968		Current Sl. II:3 5: Mutha, n. A cadet who possesses much athletic prowess, social grace, or general ability (Air Force Academy).
1970		D. Jenkins Dogged Victims 30: [of a golf hole] ‘One bad shot and you're S.O.L. on this mother’.
1972		Ellis & Newman in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 369: The greaser is a ‘bad ass’; the gowster is a ‘muthah’.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 210: I said I was the most prolific mother he’d come across since Big-un Darley.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 162: They did an old style ‘guaguanco’ that was a mother.

(e) (US black) an affectionate term used between men.

1971

H.E. Roberts Third Ear 8: mother n. 1. term expressing affection (used by one man to another).

6. (also mutha, in (drugs) uses [? moota n. or abbr. motherfucker n. or the role of drug as a comforter, i.e. a mother].

(a) (US drugs) morphine.

1921

Washington Times (DC) 23 Oct. 2/1: Morphine is commonly known among [cocaine users] as ‘Mother’.

(b) marijuana.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1971		E.E. Landy Underground Dict. (1972) 137: mutha [...] Marijuana.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 15: Mother [...] Mutha — Marijuana.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1977		E. Torres Q&A 68: Argentinians—junk; short, bristly-haired Indian types [...] —coke [...] tall, skinny ‘ey, mon’ spooks, Jamaicans or Haitians—that’s the pot connection. Sprinkle them all with Puerto Ricans, and it spells m-o-t-h-e-r.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.

SE in slang uses as a nickname

In compounds

Mother Bunch (n.) [joc. use of the name of a noted late-16C ale-wife]

water.

1592		Nashe Pierce Pennilesse 25: So the Vintners in like case: others by slime, as frogs, which may be alluded to Mother Bunches slimie ale.
1600		Dekker Shoemakers’ Holiday IV iv: Am I sure that Paules steeple is a handful higher than London Stone? or that the pissing conduit leakes nothing but pure mother Bunch?

Mother Cunny (n.) [cunny n.]

generic for a procuress or bawd.

1660

Practical Part of Love 24: An old Beldame, such a lump of sin, as they call Mother Cunny.

Mother Damnable (n.) [usu. generic but in Caulfield, Blackguardiana (1793) is a picture of a bawd entitled ‘Mother Damnable of Kentish Town Anno 1676’ with an accompanying verse (dated 1676) which notes that ‘So fam’d, both far and near, is the renown, / Of Mother Damnable, of Kentish Town’]

a procuress, a madam.

1665		‘R.M.’ Scarronides 48: A Mother Damnable, a swinger.
1673		M. Stevenson Norfolk Drollery 84: O! if you chance pass her Door, / I prithee (Tom) commend me to her: / And send me word next Post, that I may tell / Our mother Damnable, her Sisters well.
1677		‘Country-man’s Prophecy’ in W.P. Wit’s Academy Pt 2 126: Old Mother Damnable.
1699		A great & famous scoldling-match 3: The most obstinate Mother Damnable that Rosemary-Lane ever yet Spawn’d.
c.1700		London-Bawd (1705) 12: Old Mother Damnable the Bawd [...] heard all their Allegations.
1700		N. Ward London Spy XV 351: Neither could the good Woman [...] avoid, being new Christen’d by some Drunken Godfather or other, the name of Mother Huff, Mother Damnable, the Witch of Endor, Dame Saucy, Goody Blowze, Gammer Tattle, or the like.
1748		Richardson Clarissa V 23: It might be a doe – escaped from mother Damnable’s park.
c.1775		Only True and Exact Calendar title page: Old Mother Damnable from the Strand.

Mother Fist (and her five daughters) (n.) (also Mother Five Fingers)

the hand, in the context of masturbation.

1963		G.L. Coon Short End 178: For every time we laid a real broad, we laid Mother Five Fingers five hundred times [HDAS].
1981		T. Capote Music for Chameleons n.p.: 🌐 We jacked off and went right to sleep. Sometimes I wonder: Whatever would we do without Mother Fist and her Five Daughters? They’ve certainly been a friendly bunch to us through the years.

Mother Ga-ga (n.) [gaga n.¹]

(gay) a fussy, gossipy, interfering older homosexual.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 31: mother gaga (n.): Aging homosexual; usually a busybody who makes the rounds, and who meddles in everybody’s business and feels obliged to tell everyone else about it.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 138: mother gaga (dated, ’40s) snooping gossip.

Mother Knab-cony (n.) (also mother nab-cony, Mother Nabem, nab cony) [nab v.¹ (1) + cony n., lit. ‘Mother Snatch-Sucker’]

a madam, a bawd.

1675		Head Miss Display’d 129: The meretricious reputation of the Park, fell much to decay, by the decease of the famous Patroness thereof Nab C–.
1707		N. Ward London Terrae filius I 30: Any Young fresh Country Lass, ... shall be welcome to Mother Knab-Cony’s House, . . . in Shoving-Alley, near Moor fields.
1833		‘Moll Slobbercock’ in Funny Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 46: The cow-sow-mare stopt, with her chaff to accost me, / And offer’d her ken as a place for my rest. / Ah no! Mother Nabem, right onward I move, / No mot but my own.

Mother Midnight (n.)

1. a bawd, a madam.

1662		W. Davenant Law Against Lovers Act IV: [of a bawd] Mother Midnight.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Mother Midnight, a Midwife (often a Bawd).
1714		N. Ward Miseries of Whoring 158: Now Betty by the wise and prudent Care / Of Mother Midnight, straightways does prepare / Herself for Man’s reception out of hand [...] She’ll live by Rump and Buttock altogether .
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1748		A Spy on Mother Midnight I 9: [T]he very Mother Midnight who was to officiate at the Inn I was bound for [...] 11: [B]y the Help of Mother Midnight, [we] carry'd on a Conversation highly feafon’d with double Entendre.
1795		Fortnight’s Ramble through London 80: Dolly Dandle, Kitty Cunning, Molly Mischance, Dame Dismal, and Mother Midnight.
1822		(con. early 17C) W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II 240: ‘Mother, are you serious?’ said Jin Vin, [...] ‘In troth am I,’ said the dame; ‘and will you call me Mother Midnight now, Jin Vin?’.

2. a midwife; esp. one who delivers or aborts illegitimate children.

1674		‘Westminster Drollery’ in Ebsworth Choyce Drollery (1876) 190: Mother Midnight comes out / With the Babe in a Clout.
1680		M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras’d 13: What plaguy Do they had t’unwhelp me? / And Mother Midnight cou’d not help me.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Mother Midnight, a Midwife (often a Bawd).
1725		View of London & Westminster (2nd part) 13: The Truth of all this [i.e. a bizarre childbirth] any one many be truly satisfied [...] of Madame Midnight living in Squawking-Alley.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1784		Rambler’s Mag. Feb. 54/1: Mother Midnight, an old midwife who lived near Maidenhead.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

Mother Parker (n.)

(US gay) a tough, older homosexual.

1979

Maledicta III:2 223: Catamite and minion would now generally be employed only in historical references [...] while sissy and Mother Parker (tough queen) are dated.

Mother Piteous (n.)

a woman who poses as worthy of (undeserved) sympathy.

1673

M. Stevenson Norfolk Drollery 111: Say Mother piteous, do you not / For Oatmeal, rob the Porridg-pot? / Run you not into private holes, / To break your Fast with Salt, and Coals?

Mother Scrubs (n.)

a charwoman.

a.1904

T.W. O’Connor [perf. Herbert Campbell] ‘At My Time of Life’ 🎵 Now fancy me ‘old Mother Scrubs’ / Adjoining these ’ere Totties’ clubs / Fancy me deserting the ‘pubs’ / At my time of life.

General uses

In derivatives

motherless

see separate entries.

In compounds

mother abbess (n.)

see abbess n.

mother-for-you (n.)

see motherfucker n.

motherfucka (n.)

see motherfucker n.

motherfuck/fucker/fucking

see separate entries.

motherfucking-A (adv.)

see separate entry.

motherfug/motherfugger (n.)

see motherfucker n.

motherfugging (adj.)

see motherfucking adj.

mother-huncher (n.)

see mama-huncher n.

motherlove (n.) (US gay)

1. a homosexual man having sex with a heterosexual woman.

1941		G. Legman ‘Lang. of Homosexuality’ Appendix VII in Henry Sex Variants.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 31: mother-love (n.): (1) Sexual intercourse between a homosexual and any female, as powerfully taboo now as is incest or incestuous love for one’s mother.

2. sexual intercourse between two homosexual men of the same ‘type’, ie passive and passive or active and active.

1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 31: mother-love (n.): [...] (2) A secondary meaning seems to be ki-ki sexual relations between two homosexuals of the same characteristics and desires.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 121: lovemaking between two homosexuals, both of the same type, ie plug with plug and socket with socket. [...] mother love (’40s).

mother nature (n.)

1. (US) menstruation.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 159: Mother Nature calls Be menstruating.
1999		J. Randall ‘A Visit from Aunt Rose’ in Verbatim XXV:1 Winter 25: Generally the period takes on the identity of a friend or relative, usually female, who comes for a visit: my friend, my little friend, my aunt, my grandmother, Mother Nature.

2. (drugs) marijuana [mother nature’s own tobacco].

1969		The Who ‘We’re Not Gonna take It’ 🎵 Hey you, smoking mother nature, this is a bust.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 171: It be called [...] Mother Nature, ’cause it righteously Mother Nature’s own tobacco!

mother’s blessing (n.)

see separate entry.

mother’s cramp (n.)

a hernia.

1981

(con. 1900s) A. Harding in Samuel East End Und. 55: Seventy-five per cent of the working people of the age [...] had hernias. ‘Mothers’ cramp’ they called it. They was hard-ruptured because of over-lifting.

mother’s day (n.)

1. (US black) the day when welfare cheques arrive from the government.

1967		J. Horton ‘Time and cool people’ in Trans-action 4 7/1: When the checks come in for child support, it’s ‘mother’s day’.
1968		‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 37: Mother’s Day The 1st and 15th of every month when the welfare checks are distributed.
1998		K. Anderson Night Dogs 48: It was ‘mother’s day,’ the day that welfare checks came in the mail.

2. (US milit.) payday.

1970

Current Sl. V:1 17: Mother’s day, n. Payday (from: You pay this mother, you pay that mother . . .).

mother’s friend (n.)

a quinine pessary, an elementary form of contraceptive, whose inefficiency gave it a parallel name, the midwife’s friend.

1980

Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 200: One brand of quinine pessary was called the Mother’s Friend, but to the user it was known as the Midwife’s Friend, from its unreliability.

mother’s life (n.)

imprisonment for life.

1989

in G. Tremlett Little Legs 195: mother’s life imprisonment for life.

mother’s milk (n.)

1. gin.

1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry III iii: What, my lily! here, take a drop of mother’s milk.
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 22: Mother’s milk – rum, boose, good liquor.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1915		T. Burke Nights in Town 393: At the American end of the bar [...] drinking Horse’s Necks, Maiden’s Prayers, Mother’s Milks, Manhattans, and Scotch Highballs.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.

2. brandy.

1841		W.L. Rede Sixteen String Jack II iv: Allow me to offer you a drop of mother’s milk.
1845		J. Lindridge Sixteen-String Jack 134: Mike steady the Major’s nob, vhile I give him a sup of mother’s milk.
1863		T. Taylor Ticket-Of-Leave Man Act IV: Brandy do a man harm! It’s mother’s milk — take another sip.
1892		Illus. Police News 26 Nov. 4/2: ‘You’re a mother’s boy — have a drop of mother’s milk.’ [...] The lad, not having his the slightest idea what were the contents, took a sip [...] The raw, ardent spirit burnt his mouth.

mother’s ruin (n.) [the drink’s supposed effects; however note use of savin, from juniper and an ingredient of gin, as an abortifacient]

gin.

[1887		Shields Dly Gaz. 26 Oct. 4/3: The evil of wives and mothers ruining themselves and their families by drink is only too well known [...] to need any further comment].
1912		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 15 May 3/7: Then it struck him to go on the ‘Mother's Ruin.’ He and his cobber got well illuminated.
1913		Portsmouth Eve. News 9 Dec. 6/3: Jack Pleasant, known as ‘The Bashful Limit,’ [...] brings four new songs — ‘A Drop of Mother’s Ruin’ [etc].
1926		Breton & Bevir Adventures of Mrs. May 70: And as for you, you old jellybag, don’t you come cadgin’ for no more of Mother’s ruin of me.
1933		‘William Juniper’ True Drunkard’s Delight.
a.1945		L. Payne private coll. n.p.: Gin Mother’s Ruin.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 145: In this country a bulged pocket would not mean a gun. More likely a flask of skee or mother’s ruin.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 144: Never could tell with old ladies, dab hands with a little drop of old Mother’s Ruin.
1971		J. Jones Rhy. Cockney Sl.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 200: Traditionally gin (mother’s ruin) is the best abortifacient drug.
1998		(con. 1940s) P. Cumper One Bright Child 145: You’ll find a bottle of Mother’s Ruin that will do me very nicely.

mother superior (n.)

see separate entries.

In phrases

be mother (v.) (also be mum)

to serve portions, usu. of food and drink and esp. to pour out cups of tea; thus the invitation will you be mother?, will you serve/pour?; note prob. origin as nursery game in cites 1873, 1894.

[1873		E. Sill ‘The Children’s Party’ in Nursery Feb. 54p.: Will you come to our party to-day, Carrie Wynn? / The party is all ready now to begin; / And you shall be mother, and pour out the tea, / Because you’re the oldest and best of the three].
[1894		A.B. Gomme Traditional Games n.p.: To be ‘mother’ a child will pretend to pour out tea, or sew, or do some act of household work, the doing of which is associated with ‘mother’].
1904		W. Pett Ridge Next Door Neighbours n.p.: [the speaker is a cruise ship stewardess] ‘I suppose I’d better be mother and pour out’.
1920		Sketch (London) 111 241: ‘Shall I be Mother?’ and he started to pour out. ‘Hands up for sugar’.
1932		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 18 Dec. 8/2: ‘Now, Sandy,’ said the Englishman,‘will you be mother and pour out?’, ‘Ay, mon,’ [...] Sandy lifted the teapot.
1933		H.F. Maltby Right Age to Marry 51: Mrs Carlisle (very gushing). Oh! I’m simply dying for a cup of tea? Ellen (sitting at the top of the table) Shall I be mother and pour it out?
1936		Argus (Melbourne) 31 Aug. 18/4: ‘Now, Jock,’ said Pat, ‘will you be mother and pour out the tea?’ ‘Aye,’ replied Jock, ‘if you’ll be father and pay for it’.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 218: I’ll be mother. How do you like it? Strong? Milk and sugar?
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 139: Will you be mother, Mrs. Fanshawe, do the honours?
1971		N. Smith Gumshoe (1998) 124: I held up the teapot. ‘Shall I be mother, brother?’.
1997		N. Barlay Curvy Lovebox 143: [of a drug share-out] Shall I be mother? he says takin’ out the charlie.

does your mother know you’re out?

a sarcastic comment to a person whom the speaker feels should be elsewhere, due to immaturity, foolishness, inexperience etc; see cite 1842 for father var.

1839		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 12 Jan. 14/3: We ask this gentleman, ‘Does his mother know he is out?’.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 35: Comin’ and tappin’ me on the shoulder with her fan [...] said she, – Pray, my good feller, ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1841		C. Mackay Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions (1869) 244: The next phrase that enjoyed the favour of the million [...] seems to have been originally aimed against precocious youths who gave themselves the airs of manhood before their time. ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’, was the provoking query addressed to young men of more than reasonable swagger, who smoked cigars in the streets, and wore false whiskers to look irresistible. We have seen many a conceited fellow who could not suffer a woman to pass him without staring her out of countenance, reduced at once into his natural insignificance by the mere utterance of this phrase.
1842		Wkly Rake (NY) 10 Sept. n.p.: William does your father know you are out?
1844		New Sprees of London 3: [S]o flare up and speal your tin—shell out like a brick—spend the ochre—crall the Crowns. Your mother will know you’re out!
1847		Moreton Bay Courier Brisbane, Qld.) 15 May 3/1: Constable on being asked ‘if his mother knew he was out,’ immediately put his thumb to his nose, and told his interrogator to go to a place which shall be nameless.
1848		‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries & Miseries of NY 10: ‘Then your mother knows you’re out? cried the first speaker.
1849		C. Kingsley Alton Locke (1850) 25: ‘Does his mother know he’s out?’ asked another, ‘and won’t she know it —’.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 16 Oct. 3/2: [heading] Does Your Mother Know You’re Out?
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Verdant Green (1982) 85: I dare say you don’t remember wanting to have a polka with him [...] Or asking him if his mother knew he was out.
1861		Vanity Fair (N.Y.) IV 245/1: buckstone’s favorite gag under similar circumstances was ‘My eye!’ while charles matthews always queries in a sub-sepulchral tone — ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1869		Sth Aus. Register (Aelaide, SA) 27 Mar. 12/4: [S]ome one in the crowd called out, ‘Does your mother know you are out?’ [...] To which His Lordship replied, ‘Yes, she does; and your mother will know I am in at 4 o'clock’.
1874		J. Greenwood Wilds of London (1881) 103: The stuffed policeman [...] several times said, ‘O, crickey!’ and inquired of the convict if his mother knew he was out.
1886		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 6 Feb. 6/3: Some woman, taking advantage of her masque, would accost some male individual and ask him ‘if his mother was aware he was out’.
1889		P. Pelham ‘I Put It On’ 🎵 The little boys aloud did shout, / Does your mother know you’re out?
1889		Dead Bird (Sydney) 21 Sept. 2/4: ‘Dearest, loveliest Varley, does yer mother know yer out?’.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 20 Sept. 5/1: The man at the pay box smiled at her as he said: ‘Say, miss, does your mother know yer out?’.
1895		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life I 369: Some of those present amused themselves by jeering at me [...] [asking me] ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1895		Harington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] Salute My Bicycle! 🎵 As I fly the boys all shout, / ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1903		Eve. Post 26 Nov. 6/4: He [...] thumps a lady twice his size in the back [...] jerks out ‘Wotcher!’ and winks the under-lid of his eye as only an errand boy can. ‘Does yer maw know you’re aht?’ says the girl. ‘Not ’arf’ retorts the gay Lothario; and they hook on forthwith.
1906		E. Dyson In Roaring Fifties 66: Jim was asked by several strangers [...] ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1922		H. Champion ‘Here Comes Old Beaver’ [monologue] All the little kids began to shout: ‘Ay! Ay! Ay! Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1926		C. Ryan ‘From “Quoz” to “Razzberries”’ in AS II:2 91: ‘Who are you?’ supplanted the longer expression, ‘Does your mother know you’re out?’.
1981		S. McAughtry Belfast 110: A couple of fellows [...] would call something like ‘Does your Ma know yer out?’.
1990		T. Pratchett Moving Pictures (1991) 277: Poons sniggered. ‘Hubba-hubba! Does your mother know you’re out?’ he cackled.
1991		B. Quinn Smokey Hollow 89: ‘Hey, oul’ Jimmy, does your mother know you’re out!’ ‘Go on, give her a goozer.’.

has your mother sold her mangle (and bought a piano)? (also does your mother keep a mangle?) [note 1990s TV comedy character ‘Arthur Atkins’ (the comedian Paul Whitehouse), the cod 1930s music-hall comic with his catchphrase ‘Where’s me washboard’]

an all-purpose teasing phr., aimed at a passer-by.

1841		C. Mackay Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions (1869) 242: Another very odd phrase came into repute in a brief space afterwards, in the form of the impertinent and not universally apposite query, ‘Has your mother sold her mangle?’ But its popularity was not of that boisterous and cordial kind which ensures a long continuance of favour. What tended to impede its progress was, that it could not be well applied to the older portions of society. It consequently ran but a brief career, and then sank into oblivion.
a.1854		‘Cuthbert Bede’ ‘Æger’ in College Tales (1893) 214: [He would feel] feel obliged by the information whether his maternal relative had yet disposed of her mangle.
1862		E. de la Bédollière Londres et les Anglais 316/1: mangle, [...] Lorsqu’un homme se vante faussement d’appartenir à une famille aristocratique, on lui dit proverbialement: Has your mother sold her mangle and bought a piano? Votre mère a-t-elle vendu ses fers à repasser pour acheter un piano?
1866		Wild Boys of London I 110/2: ‘Your mother don’t keep a mangle, does she?’ ‘Look here, my young shaver, if you don’t drop your chaff, I certainly will kick you out.’.

have one mother too many (v.) [a bastard should not have any mother at all, i.e. should have been left unconceived]

to be illegitimate.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 831: C.20.

mother and father of... (n.)

see father (and mother) of... n.

mother-in-law (n.)

see separate entry.

mother of all masons (n.) [a dig at the Freemasons, for no discernible reason]

the vagina; the phr. is used as a toast.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 121: Mother of masons — a toast — not among their secrets in lodge, whatever it be at home.

mother of all saints (n.) [a blasphemous joke]

the vagina, esp. as used as a toast.

1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 400: He drinks the mother of all saints: / But tho’ the toast’s the very same, / In Greek it bears another name.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: The Monosyllable ++++. a Woman’s Commodity. Mother of All Saints, the same.
1787		Harris’s List of Covent-Garden Ladies 83: This mother of all things had likewise been very busy with the mother of all saints, and night-working Fancy dictated [...] the grand use of that then hot-bed of Nature.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1790		Banquet of Wit 102: Sentiments and Toasts [...] The mother of all saints.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1838		Crim.-Con. Gaz. 20 Oct. 66/2: The oldest gentleman gave ‘Here’s to the mother of all saints;’ which was drank by the gentlemen, with a smile and by the ladies with [...] their usual expression, t‘hat they did not see anything’ to laugh at.
1840		‘A Song of Sentiments’ in Fake Away Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) Bawdy Songbooks (2011) III 280: Lads pour out libations from bottles and bowls, / The mother of all saints is drank by all souls.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

mother of all souls (n.) [a blasphemous joke]

the vagina.

1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1896		Farmer Vocabula Amatoria (1966) 191: Mortaise, f. The female pudendum; ‘the Mother of All Souls’.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 183: Examples here include [...] mother of all souls.
1997		Share Slanguage.

mother of St Patrick (n.) (also mother of St Paul) [a blasphemous joke]

the vagina.

1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1890–1904		Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

mother of that was a whisker (n.) [? phr. it has whiskers on it or whisker n.¹]

a retort to an utterly implausible story.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

mother of the maids (n.) [cit. c.1673 puns on sl. and SE Mother of the Maids, governess to the Queen’s maids of honour]

a madam, a brothel-keeper.

1629		R. Brome Northern Lasse I iv: She might ha’ been Mother o’ the Maids, as well, to my seeming; or a Matron.
c.1673		Rochester ‘A Ramble in St James’s Park’ in Works (1999) 76: The First was of your Whitehall Blades, / Near Kin to th’ Mother of the Maids.
1698		N. Ward London Spy II 32: Upon which the old Mother of the Maids, call’d hastily to Priss, and Whispering, ask’d her if there were any Rods in the House?
1705–07		N. Ward Hudibras Redivivus II:2 26: Let any Mother of the Maids, / That deals at Court in Maidenheads, / But teach her Pupils this rare Art.
1723		C. Walker Authentick Memoirs of Sally Salisbury 121: The charitable Mother of the Maids, and some of her Nymphs.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Mother of the Maids, a Bawd.
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1822		D. Carey Life in Paris 91: Madame Entretenu, a personage whom we would denominate in England the ‘Mother of the maids’.
1852		Bell’s Life in Sydney 28 Feb. 3/2: Kitty Wright, the mother of the maids, and Miss Agnes Mackenzie, one of her pet chickens.

mother’s little helper (n.) [Rolling Stones’ song ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ (1966)]

(drugs) the tranquillizer Miltown.

1966		Jagger & Richards ‘Mother's Little Helper’ 🎵 She goes running for the shelter of a mother’s little helper / And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day.
1977		Wesson & Smith Barbiturates.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 298: Warren kept a couple of ‘mother’s little helpers’ in the bathroom. Serepax and Normison.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 15: Mother’s little helper — Depressants.
2010		Codella and Bennett Alphaville (2011) 146: Morphine in various patent medicines and over-the-counter mixtures [...] became the mother’s little helper of their era.

mother-young-girl (n.)

(W.I.) an ageing woman who tries to be younger than her years.

1995

Francis-Jackson Official Dancehall Dict. 35: Madda-youug-gal an obviously aging woman who clings passionately to things of youth.

your mother (n.) [the ‘feminization’ underpinning much camp gay sl.]

(camp gay) oneself; thus your mother needs a drink etc.

1963		J. Rechy City of Night 102: This is not your young inexperienced sistuh you are talkin to, this is your mothuh, who has been a-round.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 131: Mercy, child, your mother hasn’t had a trick since Gloria Swanson gave up salt — and that was in 1923.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 218: your mother (pron) first person singular.
1982		Maledicta VI:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 147: From them she might pick up and more to startle than identify with her sisters use words and expressions such as [...] your mother (the self, as in ‘Your mother needs a drink,’ picked up from camp conversation).

In exclamations

motherfuck!/motherfucker!/motherfucking A!

see separate entries.

motherfug!

see motherfuck! excl.

mother of shit!

(US) an excl. of surprise or exasperation.

1947

(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 123: Mother of shit, the lieutenant said, his voice as cool and removed as ever, how I envy you mediocre people!

mothers!

see separate entry.

on my mother’s dick!

(US) an oath, ‘on my honour!’.

1977

S. Kernochan Dry Hustle 182: I promise! I swear! On my mother’s dick.