mother church. - FIGURATIVE something that is the origin of or stimulus for something else: the wish was the mother of the deed. - INFORMAL an extreme example or very large specimen of something: I got stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. 2 VULGAR SLANG short for MOTHERFUCKER. # v. [trans.] 1 [often as n.] (mothering) bring up (a child) with care and affection: the art of mothering. look after kindly and protectively, sometimes excessively so: she felt mothered by her older sister. 2 DATED give birth