mamma - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Learned borrowing from Latin mamma.

mamma (plural mammae or mammas)

  1. (anatomy, plural mammae) The milk-secreting organ of female humans and other mammals which includes the mammary gland and the nipple or teat; a breast; an udder.
    • 1880, Herbert Spencer, The Study of Sociology, page 434:
      Either sex under special stimulations is capable of manifesting powers ordinarily shown only by the other […] Thus, to take an extreme case, the mammæ of men will, under special excitation, yield milk: there are various cases of gynecomasty on record, and in famines infants whose mothers have died have been thus saved.
  2. (meteorology) An accessory cloud like a mammary in appearance, which can form on the underside of most cloud genera.

milk-secreting organ

Variant of mama.

mamma (plural mammas)

  1. Alternative spelling of mama.
    • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Of General Terms”, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC, book III, § 7, page 191:
      The Ideas of the Nurſe, and the Mother, are vvell framed in their Minds; and, like Pictures of them there, repreſent only thoſe Individuals. The Names they firſt give to them, are confined to theſe Individuals; and the names of Nurſe, and Mamma, the Child uſes, determine themſelves to thoſe Perſons.
    • 1691, Tho[mas] Shadwell, “Epilogue”, in The Scowrers. A Comedy, […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC:
      This begets Scorn, hovv can one stand in avve, / Of a vain Tavvdry, Amorous Mamma.
    • 1844 June, Michael Angelo Titmarsh [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “[Critical Reviews of Books and Pictures.] May Gambols; or, Titmarsh in the Picture Galleries.”, in Miscellaneous Essays, Sketches and Reviews (The Works of William Makepeace Thackeray; XXV), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1885, →OCLC, page 256:
      The exhibition of the New Society of Water-Colour Painters has grown to be quite as handsome and agreeable as that of its mamma, the old Society in Pall Mall East.
    • 1878 April 25 – September 24 (date written), Anthony Trollope, “Lady Albury’s Letter”, in Ayala’s Angel […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall […], published 1881, →OCLC, page 59:
      That they should spend their Christmas at Merle Park was an acknowledged thing;—to mamma Tringle an acknowledged benefit, because she liked to have her daughter with her; to papa Tringle an acknowledged evil, because he could not endure to be made to give more than he intended to give.
    • 1886, Gustave Flaubert, chapter VII, in Eleanor Marx-Aveling, transl., Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners […], London: Vizetelly & Co., […], →OCLC, part I, page 47:
      Charles […] respected his mother, and he loved his wife infinitely; he considered the judgment of the one infallible, and yet he thought the conduct of the other irreproachable. When Madame Bovary had gone, he tried timidly and in the same terms to hazard one or two of the more anodyne observations he had heard from his mamma. Emma proved to him with a word that he was mistaken, and sent him off to his patients.
    • 1887, John Ruskin, “Cumæ”, in Præterita. Outlines of Scenes and Thoughts Perhaps Worthy of Memory in My Past Life, volume II, Orpington, Kent: George Allen, →OCLC, pages 71–72:
      [T]he cameo cutters were also skilful in mortal portraiture, and papa and mamma, still expectant of my future greatness, resolved to have me carved in cameo.
    • a. 1984 (date written), Rebecca West [pseudonym; Cicily Isabel Fairfield], chapter I, in This Real Night, London; Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan London, published 1984, →ISBN, part 1, page 10:
      Silly Mamma, of course you should have your hair done like other Mammas.

mamma

  1. Alternative spelling of mama.
    • 1896, George Ade, chapter XII, in Artie: A Story of the Streets and Town, 2nd edition, Chicago, Ill.: Herbert S. Stone & Co., published 10 October 1896, →OCLC, page 109:
      He do n't do a thing in the world except travel around with some more o' them handy boys and lay for jack-pots. And the talk he gives you! Mamma! He 's better 'n any o' them shell-workers that used to graft out at the gover'ment pier.

mamma (third-person singular simple present mammas, present participle mammaing, simple past and past participle mammaed) (transitive, uncommon)

  1. Alternative spelling of mama.
    • 1749 June 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LXIV. Miss Clarissa Harlowe, to Miss Howe.”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by John Osborn, […], →OCLC, page 320:
      Priſc[illa] vvill Mamma-up Mrs. Sinclair, and vvill undertake to court her guardian to let her paſs a delightful vveek vvith her.
    • 1905 May 7, “The Lancer”, in Los Angeles Sunday Times, volume 47, number 155, Los Angeles, Calif.: The Times-Mirror Company, →OCLC, part II, page 5, column 2:
      What shall be the effeminating effect upon the rising generation if the brave men of today are to be mammaed by a crew of timid Supervisors?
    • 1905 December 6, “Humor: Babies and the parson: How his scheme for keeping them quiet was spoiled”, in The Evening Examiner, volume XXXIX, number 132, Peterborough, Ont.: [The Peterborough Examiner], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9, column 4:
      [W]hen the next Sunday two and the third Sunday four babies cooed and mammaed and howled in chorus it was more than he could stand.
    • 2007 September, Chris(tine) [pseudonym], “Columns”, in Maximum Rocknroll, number 292, San Francisco, Calif.: Maximum Rocknroll, →ISSN, →OCLC, column 3:
      I've been pretty out of the loop—immersed in my small world of day-to-day living, working and baby-mammaing.

mamma f

  1. (Gressoney) mom, mama

mamma f (plural mamma's, diminutive mammaatje n)

  1. alternative form of mama

Borrowed from Latin mamma.

mamma f (plural mamma's or mammae, no diminutive)

  1. mamma, breast
    Synonym: borst

Most people will use this word as an alternative spelling of mama (“mother”).

mamma f (genitive singular mammu, plural mammur)

  1. mom, mum (colloquial word for mother)
    Synonym: móðir
    Hvar er mamma mín?
    Where is my mommy?

From Swedish mamma.

mamma

  1. (dialectal, childish) mama, mother (chiefly Southwest Finnish, Satakunta, Uusimaa, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia)
    Synonym: äiti
  2. (dialectal, childish) grandma, grandmother (chiefly Southwest Finnish, Satakunta, Uusimaa, Kymenlaakso, South Karelia)
    Synonym: isoäiti
  3. (colloquial) An elder, plump woman.
    Synonym: tantta

mamma (plural **mamma)

  1. mammary gland
  2. mummy; mom; mum

mamma

  1. to suck the breast

mamma f (genitive singular mömmu, nominative plural mömmur)

  1. mom, mum (colloquial word for mother)
    Synonym: móðir
    Hvar er mamma mín?
    Where is my mommy?

mamma (plural mammas)

  1. mamma

Inherited from Latin mamma.

mamma f (plural mamme)

  1. mom/mum
    Alternative forms: (regional, vocative) ma', (southern Italy, chiefly vocative) mammà
    Synonym: madre (“mother”)
    Coordinate term: papà

mamma f (plural mamme)

  1. synonym of carciofo cimarolo[2]

  2. ^ mamma in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)

  3. ^ cimaròlo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Uncertain. Either a native childish term of onomatopoeic origin, or borrowed from Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē).

mamma f (genitive mammae); first declension

  1. (anatomy) breast
    Puero isti da mammam.
    Give that boy of yours your breast [i.e. suckle him].
  2. (anatomy) udder; pap
  3. (anatomy, of animals) teat; dug
    mammam sugere ― to suck on a breast
  4. (childish) mama (mother)
    Cum cibum ac potionem buas ac papas vocent, matrem mammam, patrem tatam.
    Since children call food and drink bua and papa, mother mamma and father tata.
  5. (by extension) a protuberance on tree bark

First-declension noun.

mamma f (4th declension)

  1. mum
  2. mother

Borrowed from Italian mamma.

mamma f (plural mammiet or mammi)

  1. (childish) mom, mummy/mommy
    Synonyms: ma, mamà, omm
    il-mamma u t-tata ― mommy and daddy
  2. original
  3. (grammar) basic form of a verb (the basic form of a verb used as a dictionary entry)
    Coordinate term: għerq

Borrowed from Swedish mamma and inherited from Finnish mamma.

mamma (plural mammat)

  1. mom, mommy
    Oonkos mammastilla tullu feeperi? ― Did your mom get a fever?

mamma m (definite singular mammaen, indefinite plural mammaer, definite plural mammaene)

  1. mother
    Synonym: mor

mamma f (definite singular mammaa, indefinite plural mammaer, definite plural mammaene)

  1. mother
    Synonym: mor

Alternative scripts

mamma n

  1. a vital spot of the body
  2. nerve center

mamma f (plural mammas)

  1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of mama

mamma

  1. inflection of mammar:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

From Latin mamma.

mamma f (plural mammas)

  1. mother

Uncertain. Either a native childish term of onomatopoeic origin, or borrowed from Ancient Greek μάμμη (mámmē).

mamma c

  1. mom, mum, mother
    Synonyms: mor, moder, (slang) morsa, (definite, colloquial) mamsen
    Coordinate term: pappa
    Han älskar sin mamma
    He loves his mom
    Mamma, när blir det mat?
    Mom, when's dinner?
    (literally, “Mom, when does it become [when will there be] food?”)
    Hon har blivit mamma
    She has become a mother
    mamma och pappa
    Mom and Dad

The most common and neutral word for mother.