mother of all ——
noun
Something that is outstanding or exemplary (in magnitude, importance, etc.); anything that is definitive in character, or that is the epitome of its kind; frequently humorous. Compare the father and mother of a.
- Popularized as a catchphrase by Saddam Hussein (b. Saddam bin Hussein at-Takriti 1937), President of Iraq from 1979, with reference to the Gulf War. Perhaps reinforced in later use by the euphemistic use of mother to mean ‘motherfucker’, hence the occasionally occurrence of the form mutha in the phrase..
Origin
Late 19th century.