mostly /'məustli/ adv mainly; in most cases or most of the time: She uses her car mostly for driving to work. | He has the occasional cigarette, but mostly he smokes a pipe.
MOT /,em əu 'tiː/ n an official test in the UK which must be carried out once a year on all road vehicles more than three years old, in order to make sure they are safe enough to be driven. In the UK it is illegal to drive a car that has not passed its MOT. There is no national test like this in the US, although some US states test the level of a car's EMISSIONS (=the waste gases it produces): My car failed its MOT — I had to get the brakes fixed. | an MOT certificate
mote /məʊt/ n especially lit a very small piece or grain, especially of dust
motel /məʊˈtel/ also motor lodge AmE — n a hotel for travelling motorists, usually on a single level with space for a car near each room
mo-tet /məʊˈtet/ n a piece of church m
moth /mɒθl/mɔːθ/ n 1 [C] an insect related to the BUTTERFLY but usually not so brightly coloured, that flies mainly at night and is attracted by lights → see picture at INSECT 2 [the] BrE the presence of young moths (clothes moths) in clothes, where they eat wool, fur etc
moth·ball /'mɒbɔːl/ mɔːθ-/ n [usually pl.] 1 a small ball made of a strong-smelling chemical, used for keeping moths away from clothes 2 in mothballs stored and not used: With the end of the Cold War several warships were put into mothballs.
'moth-,eaten adj 1 (of cloth) destroyed, or partly destroyed, by moths: You're not going to wear that moth-eaten sweater! 2 very worn out: a moth-eaten old sofa 3 derog no longer modern: his moth-eaten ideas
moth·er¹ /'mʌðər/ n 1 [C] a female parent of a child or animal: His mother and father are both doctors. | Can I borrow your car, please, mother? | We'd better ask (our) mother first. | a mother hen and her chicks | a mother-of-two (=having two children) → see FATHER (USAGE) 2 be told/learn something at one's mother's knee to learn something when one is very young 3 every mother's son /it every man with none left out → see also necessity is the mother of invention (NECESSITY) 4 the mother of all ... used in order to say that something is the best, worst, biggest, most severe etc thing of its kind: If the Senator decides to seek re-election, he will face the mother of all confirmation battles. | The 1980s were supposed to be the mother of all parties, but we woke up with a hangover. ~~less adj
mother² v [T] sometimes derog to care for or protect (someone) like a mother: The old man mothered his beloved pigeons. | Tom's wife mothers him dreadfully. → see also MOTHER'S BOY
Mother n 1 a title for a woman who is in charge of a CONVENT (=group of religious women) 2 old use used especially by a man when speaking to an old woman
,mother and 'toddler group n in Britain, a regular informal meeting for mothers with very young children. The mothers can sit and talk together while the children play with toys.
Moth-er-care /'mʌðəkeər ˈl-ðər-/ trademark a shop in many UK cities. It sells clothes and equipment for babies and young children, as well as clothes for PREGNANT women.
'mother country also motherland n [(the)] 1 the country of one's birth; one's NATIVE land 2 the country from which a group of settlers in another part of the world originally came: Some Australians still regard Britain as the/their mother country.
Mother 'Earth n [U] the world considered as the place or thing from which everything comes
moth·er·fuck·er /'mʌðə,fʌkər/ -ðər-/ n AmE taboo spoken someone that you dislike very much or who you are very angry with —motherfucking adj
Mother 'Goose AmE the imaginary writer of a book of NURSERY RHYMES (=old songs or poems for young children), or the nursery rhymes themselves: If you're good I'll read you some Mother Goose before you go to bed.
moth·er·hood /'mʌðəhʊdll-ər-/ n [U] 1 the state of being a mother: Motherhood doesn't suit her; she shouldn't have had children. 2 motherhood and apple pie infml an expression used to describe a public statement that is almost meaningless, because it avoids saying anything that people could disagree with: The report's conclusion, that 'motorists should be encouraged to use their cars less', is a classic example of motherhood and apple pie.
'Mothering ,Sunday n [C,U] BrE old-fash Mother's Day
'mother-in-law n pl. mothers-in-law or mother-in-laws the mother of a person's husband or wife
CULTURAL NOTE People often make jokes about mothers-in-law, and the STEREOTYPE of a mother-in-law is that she does not like her son-in-law or daughter-in-law, and often makes trouble for them. Mothers-in-law are also thought to give a lot of unwanted advice.
moth-er-land /'mʌðəlend\|-ər-/ n → see MOTHER COUNTRY
'mother lode n [C usually singular]} AmE 1 a mine that is full of gold, silver etc 2 a place where you can find a lot of a particular type of object: The Sharper Image catalog has a mother lode of men's toys and gadgets.
moth·er·ly /'mʌðəli/ -ər-/ adj like or typical of a good mother: a motherly old teacher | a motherly kiss → compare MATERNAL ——liness n [U]
Mother 'May I n [U] AmE a game played by children in the US in which one child stands a few metres away from the other players with his or her back to them. The other players try to get nearer to this child, but they are only allowed to move forward when the child gives them permission. If the child sees someone moving, when they have not been given permission, that person has to go back to the beginning again. The winner is the first player to reach the child: 'Mother, may I take three giant steps?' 'Yes, you may.' → compare RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT
Mother of 'God, the in the Roman Catholic religion, another name for Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ
Mother 'Nature n [U] an expression used to talk about the world and living creatures as a person: We can hardly expect Mother Nature not to protest at the pollution we've been creating for the last half century.
mother-of-pearl also nacre n [U] a hard smooth shiny pale variously coloured substance inside the shell of certain SHELLFISH used for making decorative articles: a mother-of-pearl brooch
'mother's boy BrE || mama's boy AmE — n [C usually sing.] infml derog a boy, or especially a man, who allows his mother to protect him too much and is therefore considered weak
'Mother's Day a particular Sunday, in Britain the fourth Sunday in Lent, and in the US the second Sunday in May, on which people give cards and/or presents to their mothers to show their love for them → compare FATHER'S DAY; see Feature on page A18
'mother's 'help n a person, usually a woman, who helps a mother with small children to do housework, and may also look after the children for short periods of time
'mother ship n a large ship travelling on the sea or in space, from which smaller boats or ships are sent out to fish, EXPLORE etc, and to which they return
Mother Ship•ton /,mãoe 'fiptan‖-ðər-/ an old woman from Yorkshire in northeast England who lived in the 15th century. She was believed to have magic powers and to have the ability to say what would happen in the future.
Mother's 'Pride trademark a type of soft, white bread which is popular in the UK. It is sold in a plastic bag and is already cut into SLICES. → compare WONDERBREAD
,mother's 'ruin n [U] old-fash humor, especially BrE for GIN
,Mother Su'perior, mother superior n [C usually singular] the woman who is the leader of a CONVENT
Mother Te·re·sa /,mʌðə tə'ri:zəl-ðər-/ (1910–97) an Albanian Roman Catholic NUN (=a member of a group of Christian religious women), who lived in India, where she worked to help the poor and the sick in the city of CALCUTTA. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, and is seen as a typical example of someone who is very kind, unselfish, and morally good.
,mother-to-'be n p. mothers-to-be a PREGNANT woman
,mother 'tongue n the language which one first learned to speak (and which one mainly speaks): Yes, he speaks French excellently, but his mother tongue is actually Greek.
moth·proof /'mɒθpru:fɪl'mɔ:θ-/ adj (of cloth, floor coverings etc) chemically treated against damage by MOTH's —mothproof v [T]