mum
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editAlternative form of mam, or an abbreviation of mummy. Compare mom, mama.
Alternative forms
editNoun
editmum (plural mums)
- (Commonwealth, Ireland, informal) Mother.
- 1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 5:
- From the Marvel Mixmaster to the Miracle Microwave, every time a new-fangled gadget has lobbed into the Aussie kitchen, Aussie mums have changed their cooking styles accordingly.
- 1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, page 278:
- 'Ooh Mum, Auntie don′t allow smokin’ - Pat′s eyes were round with awe as Mum struck a match.
- 2004, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2, page 336:
- Her mum says that she is deaf and only partially sighted, so I need to go and stand in front of her, so she can see the gift.
- 2006, Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 11: To Be a King, page 88:
- “Mum! Mum!” he shouted out. The laughter stopped. Two bright, sparkling yellow eyes peeped from the hollow. Atop her head were the fluffy ear tufts that his mum was so proud of because they were fuller and lovelier than those of most Great Horned Owls. It was indeed his mum!
- 2011, Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang, unnumbered page,
- He′s looking at my mum, at her swollen eyes, busted nose and bloodied lips. She′s mashed up something chronic, and the man who did this to her is my dad.
Usage notes
editMum is only capitalized when used as a proper noun:
- I don't think Mum will like you.
- I don't think my mum will like you.
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:mother
Derived terms
editTranslations
editmother (informal, familiar)
|
Etymology 2
editAbbreviation of chrysanthemum.
Alternative forms
editNoun
editmum (plural mums)
- (chiefly US) A chrysanthemum.
- 1996, David Foster Wallace, “Democracy and Commerce at the US Open”, in Both Flesh And Not, Penguin, published 2013, page 139:
- I don't know whether that's true or whether New Yorkers are being enjoined from watering the mums in their window boxes or whatever, but I do know that there hasn't been one rain-delay in the whole tournament so far […] .
- (US, originally Texas) A decoration made originally of a real chrysanthemum but now usually an artificial (silk) flower combined with ribbons and marked with such indicators as the wearer's name, school name, the year, and so on; traditionally worn by girls at high school homecoming celebrations.
Etymology 3
editFrom Middle English mum or mom (“silent”), reminiscent of the sound made when gagged or with a hand over one's mouth. Perhaps related to dated German Mumme (“mask”).
Alternative forms
editAdjective
editmum (not comparable)
- (colloquial) Silent.
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:
- The citizens are mum, and speak not a word.
- (colloquial) Secret.
- 1922, Robert Welles Ritchie, Dust of the Desert[2], page 149:
- “Come here, friend,” sternly from the doctor. “Now I give you the way inside if you’ll promise to keep it mum.”
Derived terms
editInterjection
editmum!
- stop speaking!, stop talking!, hush!
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Mum, then, and no more.
- 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 143:
- Ahab has that that’s bloody on his mind. But, mum; he comes this way.
Verb
editmum (third-person singular simple present mums, present participle mumming, simple past and past participle mummed)
Derived terms
editNoun
editmum (uncountable)
- (obsolete) silence
- 1677 (indicated as 1678), [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]. Canto II.”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part. […], London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, page 277:
- Entrust it under solemn Vows / Of Mum and Silence, […]
Etymology 4
editNoun
editmum (uncountable)
- A type of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany.
- 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
- The clamorous crowd is hushed with mugs of mum.
Etymology 5
editA variant of ma'am.
Noun
editmum (plural mums)
- (informal, dated) Alternative spelling of ma'am
- 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “Chapter the Eighth”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC, page 130:
- “Wy, mum,” said Mr. Weller, “I don’t think you’ll see a many sich, and that’s the truth. But if my son Samivel vould give me my vay, mum, and only dis-pense vith his—might I wenter to say the vurd?” / “What word Mr. Weller?” said the housekeeper, blushing slightly. / “Petticuts, mum,” returned that gentleman, laying his hand upon the garments of his grandson. “If my son Samivel, mum, vould only dis-pense vith these here, you’d see such a alteration in his appearance, as the imagination can’t depicter.”
- 1847 December, Acton Bell [pseudonym; Anne Brontë], “The Cottagers”, in Agnes Grey. […], London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, page 176:
- [H]e axed if wer stock o' coals was nearly done. I telled him it was, an' we was ill set to get more—but you know mum I didn't think o' him helping us—but howsever, he sent us a sack o' coals next day; […]
- 1865 May 15 – 1866 January 1, Anthony Trollope, “William Belton Does Not Go Out Hunting”, in The Belton Estate. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published December 1865 (indicated as 1866), →OCLC, pages 220–221:
- "A telegruff message, mum, for Mr. William," said the maid, looking at her mistress with eyes opened wide, as she handed the important bit of paper to her master.
- 1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XI, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 93:
- Then she took off the hank and looked me straight in the face, but very pleasant, and says: / “Come, now—what’s your real name? / “Wh-what, mum?” / “What’ your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob?—or what is it?”
Anagrams
editAbinomn
editNoun
editmum
Crimean Tatar
editOther scripts | |
---|---|
Cyrillic | мум |
Roman |
Etymology
editNoun
editmum
Declension
editDeclension of mum
References
editForak
editNoun
editmum
Further reading
edit- John Carter, Katie Carter, John Grummitt, Bonnie MacKenzie, Janell Masters, A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mur Village Vernaculars (2012)
Mokilese
editVerb
editmum
Derived terms
editTurkish
editEtymology
editFrom Ottoman Turkish موم (mum, “candle”), itself from Persian موم (mum).
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmum (definite accusative mumu, plural mumlar)
Declension
editInflection | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | mum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | mumu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Singular | Plural | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nominative | mum | mumlar | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Definite accusative | mumu | mumları | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dative | muma | mumlara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locative | mumda | mumlarda | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ablative | mumdan | mumlardan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genitive | mumun | mumların | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Derived terms
editZazaki
editNoun
editmum
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ʌm
- Rhymes:English/ʌm/1 syllable
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English palindromes
- Commonwealth English
- Irish English
- English informal terms
- English terms with quotations
- American English
- Texas English
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English onomatopoeias
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives
- English colloquialisms
- English interjections
- English verbs
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms borrowed from German
- English terms derived from German
- English dated terms
- English eponyms
- English terms of address
- en:Anthemideae tribe plants
- en:Female family members
- en:Parents
- en:People
- en:Talking
- Abinomn lemmas
- Abinomn nouns
- Abinomn palindromes
- Crimean Tatar terms derived from Persian
- Crimean Tatar lemmas
- Crimean Tatar nouns
- Crimean Tatar palindromes
- Forak lemmas
- Forak nouns
- Forak palindromes
- Mokilese lemmas
- Mokilese verbs
- Mokilese palindromes
- Mokilese stative verbs
- Turkish terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- Turkish terms derived from Persian
- Turkish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Turkish terms with audio pronunciation
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns
- Turkish palindromes
- tr:Light sources
- Zazaki lemmas
- Zazaki nouns
- Zazaki palindromes