mother of

The best or greatest of a type, as in That was the mother of all tennis matches. This expression originated during the Gulf War as a translation of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's term umm al-ma'arik, for “major battle”; the Arabic “mother of” is a figure of speech for “major” or “best.” It was quickly adopted and applied to just about any person, event, or activity. [Slang; late 1980s]

Discover More

Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

Malamar is a single mother of two daughters and a talented butcher stuck in El Valle, tending to her abusive, ailing mother.

From

Alex, the mother of a 17-year-old boy who survived the shooting, told the BBC that more should have been done to prevent people like Arthur A from dropping out of school in the first place.

From

“We’re just disappointed and scared and enraged” said Maxine, the mother of a current patient, who declined to give her last name for fear of attacks on her son.

From

Mukuniwa Bililo Mami, a mother of two, has brought a jerrycan to collect cooking oil, along with sacks for lentils and rice.

From

And here he is on the antipathy that Mary Rotolo, mother of the young Dylan’s girlfriend Suze, had for Dylan: “She didn’t have the same maternal feelings towards him as the other older women who had mothered Bob when he first arrived in New York, but that was bound to be so; he wasn’t shtupping their 17-year-old daughters.”

From

Mother Nature mother of coal

Browse