Mother Carey's chicken

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. [1913 Webster]

2. That which has produced or nurtured anything; source of birth or origin; generatrix. [1913 Webster]

Alas! poor country! . . . it can not Be called our mother, but our grave. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

I behold . . . the solitary majesty of Crete, mother of a religion, it is said, that lived two thousand years. --Landor. [1913 Webster]

3. An old woman or matron. [Familiar] [1913 Webster]

4. The female superior or head of a religious house, as an abbess, etc. [1913 Webster]

5. Hysterical passion; hysteria. [Obs.] --Shak. [1913 Webster]

{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 {Oceanodroma 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 birthmark; a n[ae]vus. [1913 Webster]