Sekirov Dictionary

mama

UK /ˈmæmə/US /ˈmɑmə/

noun 12
verb 3
exclamation 1
forms 3

noun12

(South-Africa) Often in the form Mama: used as a (respectful) term of address for an adult woman.
(South-Africa) Used as a (respectful) term of address for one's mother.
•
(US, Canada) a mother
- I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week.
•
(South-Africa) Synonym of mother (“a female parent”).
- I love the cookies which mama bakes me every week.
(slang) A lesbian partner.
•
(slang) A girlfriend.
- [W]hat would I do supposing the Jane on whom I had always looked as a steady mamma had handed me the old skimmer and told me to take all the air I needed because she had gotten another sweetie? — 1927
•
(slang) A wife.
- I need to talk to mama before I buy the car.
•
(Caribbean, informal) Used as a (respectful) term of address for a woman, especially an older one.
- About a.d. 1150 Mango Capac and Mama Oella, his sister-wife [Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo], appeared by the Lake Titicaca. — 1799
•
(slang) A woman regarded as sexually attractive or (derogatory) promiscuous.
- Whoa, that chick in the bikini is a real mama!
•
(US, figurative) Synonym of mother (“an origin, a source”).
- 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. — 1844
•
(South-Africa) A middle-aged black woman.
- And the old mealie mamas who used to go past in the street with big bulging sacks on their heads, calling "Meeeeealies!" — 1989
(US, no longer used) Used preceding a name as a title for a mother.

verb3

•
(informal) To call out "mama".
- [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. — 1905
•
(informal) Synonym of mother (“to treat (someone) as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture”).
- 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
•
(informal, no longer used) To call (someone) "mama" (noun sense).
- Prisc[illa] vvill Mamma-up Mrs. Sinclair, and vvill undertake to court her guardian to let her pass a delightful vveek vvith her. — 1749

exclamation1

(US, Caribbean) Often preceded by oh: used to express approval, joy, surprise, etc.

forms

mamaed · mamaing · mamas

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