maternaladj.n.
/məˈtəːnl/, U.S. /məˈtərn(ə)l/ A. adj. Of a mother.
I. Applied to things.
1. Designating a first or native language, tongue, or dialect. Formerly also: †designating a language which gives rise to others (obsolete). Cf. mother language n. 1, mother tongue n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > a language > [adjective] > native or vernacular
kinda1325
maternal1481
vulgara1513
motherly1598
natural1617
vernacular1647
vernaculary1652
vernaculous1658
vernacule1669
1481 W. Caxton tr. Myrrour of Worlde iii. xxiv. 192 I haue presumed and emprised this forsayd translacion in to our englissh and maternal tongue.
1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) i. vi. sig. e.vi v These crysten men ought for to knowe the Pater noster, the Aue maria, & the Credo in theyr langage maternall.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 895 To whom the sayd tonge is maternall or naturall.
1598 A. M. tr. J. Guillemeau Frenche Chirurg. *v The secretes of Physicke in their maternall and motherlye language.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. x. 453 In Greeke, Latine, or their maternall tongues.
1647 J. Howell New Vol. of Lett. 153 The high Dutch or Teutonic tongue is one of the prime and most spacious maternall languages of Europe.
1659 J. Howell Brit. Prov. To Rdr. sig. †A3, in Lex. Tetraglotton (1660) The Cymraecan Toung, which is ranked by all Glottographers among the fourteen Maternall, and independent vernacular Languages of Europe.
1842 Southern Q. Rev. Apr. 320 The child, when it is required to learn its alphabet, has been taught to speak its maternal tongue.
1860 G. P. Marsh Lect. Eng. Lang. i. 24 English-speaking missionaries have planted their maternal dialect at scores of important points.
1893 Mod. Lang. Notes 8 162 Translating from French into English requires no great mental effort..for any one who speaks English as his maternal language.
1930 Jrnl. Mod. Hist. 2 35 Every inhabitant [of Russia] was obliged to declare, first, his nationality, and, second, his maternal language.
1994 J. Edwards Multilingualism (1995) vii. 197 Since the language of the school is the dominant community variety, the maternal language of these minority-group children is not reinforced.
2. figurative. Of, relating to, or designating a country, river, etc., regarded as symbolizing the role of a mother. Now rare.
ΚΠ
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. xiii. 137 His cheif maternall ciete full of mycht, Aricia, furth sent this worthy knycht [L. insignem quem mater Aricia misit].
1769 W. Falconer Shipwreck (ed. 3) i. 7 Heaven..Restored them to maternal plains at last.
1784 R. Cumberland Carmelite iv. 55 To-morrow's sun, With favouring winds to aid us, shall transport This castle's noble mistress and myself Across the streight that severs this fair isle From its maternal shore.
1808 J. B. Burges Exodiad ii. v. 233 Long ducts of limpid waters, branching out From the maternal stream, might be descried.
1838 J. H. Merivale Poems I. 144 Poets too by Isca dream... Let all old ocean's vassal race Conspire..So thou thy loyal bard embrace, Maternal stream!
1935 M. Rukeyser Theory of Flight 30 I have left forever House and maternal river... Frontiers admitted me to a growing country.
II. Applied to people, animals, etc.† 6. Biology. Of or relating to the gelatinous ground substance of certain algae. Obsolete. rare.
3.
a. Of or relating to a mother or mother-to-be; characteristic of a mother or motherhood; motherly.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > motherhood > [adjective]
motherlyOE
maternal1492
maternine1623
maternalistic1909
mumsy1961
1492 J. Ryman Poems xviii, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1892) 89 187 This mayden..Withouten maternall doloure Oure sauyour hath borne.
1492 J. Ryman Poems lxxviii, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1892) 89 248 The whiche thou were worthy to bere Without synne and maternall payne.
a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1959) vii. vi. 141 Gif ony thocht remordis ȝour myndis alssua Of the effectuus piete maternall.
1616 J. Bullokar Eng. Expositor Maternall, Motherly.
1654 E. Nicholas Papers (1892) II. 121 He told him Regall autority was above maternall and that the King was his soveraigne.
1692 J. Dryden Eleonora 14 At his first aptness, the Maternal Love Those Rudiments of Reason did improve.
a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 63 She had her maternal fears turn'd into joy.
1790 W. Cowper On Receipt Mother's Picture 27 Ah! that maternal smile!
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park III. viii. 171 John, Richard, Sam, Tom, and Charles, occupied all the rest of her maternal solicitude. View more context for this quotation
1895 T. Hardy Jude v. v. 365 The smouldering maternal instinct was strong enough in her to lead her to quash her husband's conjecture.
1948 J. Rosenberg Rembrandt I. v. 147 Rembrandt introduces us to..mothers shown as tired from their exhausting maternal duties.
1981 M. Angelou Heart of Woman 4 My mother struggled with her maternal instincts.
b. Belonging to a mother.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > motherhood > [adjective] > relating to one's mother's
maternal1605
1605 T. Tymme tr. J. Du Chesne Pract. Chymicall & Hermeticall Physicke i. xi. 47 The seedes of the elements..are coupled with the seedes of the starres, setting and putting their contayned into the maternall lappe.
1660 S. Pordage tr. Seneca Troades i. 6 O Hector! thus for thee our bare Arms, and our bloody shoulders tare Our right hands do: our heads for thee We beat; our breasts extended be Torn with maternal hands [L. maternis..palmis].
1745 E. Haywood Female Spectator IV. xxii. 224 She had not been confin'd many Days to the maternal Bed before her Maid..went privately away in the Night.
1775 S. J. Pratt Liberal Opinions (1783) III. lxxvii. 75 Her infants were habited in slips, or robes, evidently made by a maternal hand.
1865 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend II. iii. iv. 24 ‘That's exactly what Ma has been doing,’ interposed Lavvy, over the maternal shoulder.
1919 V. Marshall World of Living Dead 30 He impressed upon me the exact location of the maternal abode.
1984 L. Auchincloss Book Class ii. 19 My sickliness appealed to the deepest pity in the maternal heart.
c. Anatomy and Medicine. Derived from or belonging to the mother (as opposed to the fetus) in pregnancy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > embryo or fetus > membranes, etc., of embryo or fetus > [adjective] > placenta > part of
maternal1691
syncytial1895
symplasmatic1923
1691 J. Ray Creation 57 The Foetus... Doth receive Air..from the maternal Blood by the Placenta uterina.
1816 J. Bell & C. Bell Anat. & Physiol. Human Body (ed. 4) III. 465 The maternal part of the placenta is thrown off with the other secundines.
1890 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Maternal membranes,..the decidua vera, decidua reflexa, and decidua serotina.
1890 J. S. Billings National Med. Dict. I. 710/2 Intervillous lacunæ, irregular vascular spaces connected with the maternal blood-vessels, surrounding the fœtal villi in the placenta.
1941 Amer. Jrnl. Obstetr. & Gynecol. 42 933 If a fetus of Group A belongs to the class of non-secretors..the maternal iso-agglutinin anti-A may serve as the source of the intrauterine hemolytic process.
1978 Pharmacology 16 44 Maternal blood spaces of the placental labyrinth in the treated animals were congested with masses of red blood cells.
2001 Jrnl. Anat. 198 591 From the 6th month of gestation the architecture resembles the fully developed maternal placenta.
d. Chiefly U.S. Of a benevolent organization, etc.: constituted to provide for the needs or interests of mothers. Esp. in maternal association. Now chiefly historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social attitudes > philanthropy > [adjective] > relating to charity > type of charity
maternal1821
1821 S. C. Ayer Diary 28 Mar. (1910) 226 This afternoon I have attended our Maternal meeting. I join'd the Association soon after the birth of my little Sarah.]
1821 S. C. Ayer Diary 30 May (1910) 226 A few of the members of our Maternal Association met together at Mrs. Bartells.
1856 C. Kingsley Lect. Ladies 57 There are clubs,—clothing-clubs, shoe-clubs, maternal-clubs.
1883 M. A. Livermore What shall we do with our Daughters? vii. 140 From institutes of heredity and temperance unions, from maternal associations, and societies for moral education..comes a united entreaty.
1890 Cent. Dict. (at cited word) Maternal hospital.
1981 M. P. Ryan Cradle of Middle Class 89 The first maternal association, established in Portland, Maine, in 1815, was, however, almost stillborn on the New England frontier.
1996 Internat. Family Planning Perspectives 22 60/1 Researchers at the International Peace Maternal Hospital in Shanghai have experimented with levonorgestrel suppositories.
4. Related through the mother or on the mother's side.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > [adjective] > on mother's side
matern?a1513
uterine1632
maternal1650
umbilical1888
matrilateral1951
1650 King of Scotlands Negotiations at Rome 5 His maternal Grandfather was wont to say, after his Apostacie from the Reformed Religion to Poperies, That the Crown of France was worth little, if it were not worth a Mass or two.
1718 J. Trapp tr. Virgil Æneis iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. (1731) II. 243 So Mercury in Air, 'twixt Earth and Heav'n, Shooting from his maternal Grandsire [L. materno veniens ab avo], flew.
1787 Minor ii. v. 213 Mine own dear uncle, by the maternal side.
1804 W. Cruise Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. III. 422 The same gradation takes place in the maternal line.
1837 E. Bulwer-Lytton Ernest Maltravers I. i. xii. 121 From a maternal relation, Ernest inherited an estate of about four thousand pounds a-year.
1867 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest I. v. 289 With him was associated his maternal uncle.
1937 R. K. Narayan Bachelor of Arts ix. 129 Your maternal grandfather's first wife and her paternal grandfather were sister and brother.
1992 D. Spoto Blue Angel ii. 12 Especially proud of Maria's musical ability was her widowed maternal grandmother.
5.
a. That is a mother. Now chiefly in maternal parent (sometimes as a circumlocution for mother; also applied to plants).
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > motherhood > [adjective] > that is a mother
mothera1400
matern?a1513
maternal1748
1748 S. Richardson Clarissa IV. viii. 31 But paternal and maternal tyrants are the worst of all.
1828 D. Le Marchant Rep. Claims to Barony of Gardner p. xi Evidence..for illegitimating children, born during the matrimony of their maternal parent.
1836 C. Dickens Sketches by Boz 2nd Ser. 343 The only answer we obtained, was a playful inquiry whether our maternal parent had disposed of her mangle.
1873 Sat. Rev. 6 Sept. 309/2 The rooks bereave many a maternal pheasant that haunts the covers commanded by the rookery.
1956 Jrnl. Ecol. 44 296 V. myrtillus is the maternal parent of the natural hybrid V. myrtillus × V. vitis-idaea = V. intermedium Ruthe.
1959 Amer. Sociol. Rev. 24 368/1 Alcoholics and moderate drinkers who profess a preference for the maternal parent will show a lower degree of masculinity than those who do not.
1992 MacUser 21 Feb. 41/3 I think there is a strong possibility Mr Sculley suffered a monolateral emphasis on one milk container during his maternal parent's breast feeding.
b. Having the instincts of motherhood, motherly. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > motherhood > [adjective] > resembling a mother
motherlike1530
motherly1530
maternal1785
motherish1851
1785 W. Cowper Task iii. 436 As if in her [sc. Winter] the stream of mild Maternal nature had reversed its course.
1817 P. B. Shelley Laon & Cythna v. xxxiii. 109 Maternal earth, who doth her sweet smiles spread For all.
1892 G. Atherton Doomswoman ii She is not maternal..I never saw a baby held so awkwardly.
1918 W. M. Kirkland Joys of being Woman viii. 78 I wish them [sc. my instructors]..to be as sweetly patient and cheerily maternal as they would be to my daughter's daughter.
1991 A. MacNeill Time of Assassins (1992) (BNC) 90 ‘I made the mistake of criticizing you and she came down on me like a ton of bricks.’ ‘She's very maternal.’
c. Psychology. Having the attributes of a mother or mother figure.
ΚΠ
1954 Jrnl. Projective Techniques 18 352/1 The..confusion of sexual and maternal figures found in the pedophile group.
1967 Jrnl. Amer. Psychoanal. Assoc. 15 258 Mechanically, there is an ego split with..the ‘good’ self being libidinally attached to the maternal love object.
1991 J. Sayers Mothering Psychoanal. vii. 67 Fears of similarly vengeful maternal figures feed women's anxiety in our society lest their sexuality be destroyed by mothering.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > algae > [adjective] > of or characterized by parts
globuliferous1781
siphoneous1858
maternal1874
matrical1882
trichosporangial1887
nemathecial1890
trichophoric1891
siphonous1960
1874 H. C. Wood Fresh-w. Algæ in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. 19 16 Filaments simple..floating in a maternal jelly.
1874 H. C. Wood Fresh-w. Algæ in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. 19 100 Numerous cells..are arranged on the periphery at equal distances, and are connected by the maternal jelly.
B. n.
British slang. With the. A mother, one's mother. Cf. mater n.1 3. Now archaic and rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > parent > mother > [noun]
mothereOE
dame?c1225
merea1275
childbearera1382
genitricea1500
mammy1523
dama1547
mama1555
genetrix1561
mam1570
mum?1595
old lady1599
authoressc1603
mam1608
genitress1610
old woman1668
old girl1745
mummy1768
momma1810
madre1815
maw1826
ma1829
marm1835
mater1843
mom1846
mommy1846
maternal1867
motherkins1870
muvver1871
mumsy1876
mamacita1887
mutti1905
birth mother1906
duchess1909
amma1913
momsey1914
mums1915
moms1925
mata1945
baby-mother1966
mama1982
old dear1985
baby-mama1986
1867 Routledge's Every Boy's Ann. Dec. 728 Then is the governor driven to his wits' end.., while the maternal has to rouse herself up out of her arm-chair.
Compounds
maternal deprivation n. Psychology lack of maternal care, or separation in early childhood from one's mother regarded as a cause of psychological problems in later life.
ΚΠ
1941 Amer. Jrnl. Orthopsychiatry 11 459 The child's refusal to eat seems to have a complex significance. In the first place, it is a form of revenge for maternal deprivation.
1951 Bull. World Health Organization 3 361 It is this complex..relationship with the mother in the early years..that child psychiatrists..believe to underlie the development of character and of mental health. A state of affairs in which the child does not have this relationship is termed ‘maternal deprivation’.
1992 R. D. Gross Psychology (ed. 2) v. xxii. 657 By using the general term ‘maternal deprivation’, Bowlby failed to distinguish between the effects of being separated from an attachment figure and the effects of never having formed an attachment.
maternal effect n. Genetics the determination of particular phenotypic properties of the immediate offspring by the genotype or phenotype of the female parent; an instance of this; spec. such an effect mediated by the presence of maternal gene products (proteins or messenger RNA) in the cytoplasm of the ovum.
ΚΠ
1935 T. Dobzhansky in Proc. National Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 21 446 We are dealing either with a real cytoplasmic effect (determination by intrinsic properties of the cytoplasm..), or with a maternal effect (determination of the properties of the cytoplasm by those of the chromosomes it carried before fertilization.
1954 Jrnl. Genetics 52 413 Most of the non-genetic variation is due to intangible factors acting independently on individuals, but..there is some evidence for maternal effects.
1990 EMBO Jrnl. 9 2977/1 The specification of anterior positional information during Drosophila embryogenesis is largely dependent upon the function of the maternal-effect gene bicoid.
maternal inheritance n. Genetics inheritance from the mother; spec. the inheritance of non-chromosomal genetic material via the cytoplasm of the ovum, usually in organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts.
ΚΠ
1895 Proc. Royal Soc. 58 241 The portion of regression due to either parent alone is not dependent solely on maternal or paternal inheritance.
1907 Mind 16 627 The individual character is determined both by sex and by direct paternal and maternal inheritance.
1915 Jrnl. Genetics 4 314 The maternal inheritance of the variegated and yellow-leaved characters in Primula corresponds exactly with that of the albomaculata character in Mirabilis.
1998 Internat. Jrnl. Plant Sci. 159 948 The high female frequencies in some populations and the strong maternal inheritance of the sexual phenotype indicate a nuclear-cytoplasmic determination of sex in both Spanish species.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1481- to pay a visit to pepper alley
- to pay an account
- to pay any one in his own coin
- to pay at the stub
- to pay attention or one's attention to
- to pay away
- to pay back
- to pay both scot and lot
- to pay both scot and scot
- to pay both scot and to pay lot
- to pay double taxes
- to pay down
- to pay footing
- to pay for
- to pay for footing
- to pay for one's footing
- to pay for one's scot
- to pay for one's whistle
- to pay for scot
- to pay forfeit
- to pay homage
- to pay home
- to pay in
- to pay its way
- to pay lip service