| 释义 |
motherhood|ˈmʌðəhʊd|
[+ -hood.]
1. a. The condition or fact of being a mother.
1603Florio Montaigne (1634) 463 For my part, I no more acknowledge Venus without Cupid, then a mother-hood without an off-spring. 1681W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 897 Mother-hood, Maternitas. 1837C. Lofft Self-formation II. 103 Rejoicing in thy motherhood. 1869Mrs. Heaton A. Dürer i. iii. (1881) 62 Some women need the warm sun of motherhood to ripen their true nature.
transf. and fig.1623Lisle ælfric on O. & N. Test. Pref. 8 That were against his owne Apostleship, and the motherhood Rome by him got here. 1672Stillingfl. Idol. Ch. Rome (ed. 2) 225 Three properties in the Holy Trinity, of the Fatherhood, of the Motherhood, and of the Lordship. 1873B. Gregory Holy Cath. Ch. xv. 156 The motherhood of the Church was manifested..in her respect for the individuality of her children.
b. The spirit of a mother; the feeling or love of a mother.
1593Nashe Christ's T. 33 b, Not hate but hunger, taught Miriam to forget mother-hood. 1875Miss Mulock Serm. out of Ch. iii. (1881) 99 The mere fact of bringing eight or ten children into the world does not in the least imply true motherhood.
c. transf. Used attrib. of an issue, report, etc.: protective, withholding the worst aspects. N. Amer.
1973Ottawa Jrnl. 4 Apr. 6/2 They think public participation is such a motherhood issue in politics these days that it must be paid homage to at all cost. 1974Evening Herald (Rock Hill, S. Carolina) 18 Apr. 4/4 At the meeting, officials from Kaiser, Reynolds, Southwire, Alcoa and others agreed that a ‘motherhood’ package concealing the dangers of aluminium wiring was the best way to deal with the hearings of the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Los Angeles. 1974Ottawa Citizen 14 Nov. 37/2 Opposition spokesmen attacked him for presenting a ‘motherhood’ report which told nothing of the real situation of the peacekeeping forces, only that Canadian troops are loved overseas.
2. Used collectively for mothers.
1835Tait's Mag. II. 101 The motherhood of Great Britain was in a conspiracy to entrap him.
3. Anthropology. A clan constituted by kinship through the mother.
1884A. Lang Custom & Myth 108 A man of the Mouse ‘motherhood’, as the totem kindred is locally styled, may not eat mice. |