mamma 1[mah-muh, muh-mah] Examples noun
- mama.
mamma 2[mam-uh] noun, plural mam·mae [mam-ee] /ˈmæm i/ for 1; mam·ma for 2.
- Anatomy, Zoology. a structure, characteristic of mammals, that comprises one or more mammary glands with an associated nipple or teat, usually rudimentary unless developed and activated for the secretion of milk in the female after the birth of young.
- Meteorology. (used with a plural verb) hanging, breastlike protuberances on the under surface of a cloud.
Origin of mamma 2 before 1050; Middle English Latin: breast, teat (whence Old English mamme teat). See mamma1 mama or mam·ma [mah-muh; for 1 also muh-mah] noun
- Informal. mother1.
- Slang.
- a sexually attractive, usually mature woman.
- one’s wife.
Origin of mama 1545–55; nursery word, with parallels in other European languages, probably in part inherited or borrowed, in part newly formed; compare Latin mamma, Greek mámmē breast, mama (see mamma2), French maman mama, Welsh mam mother (*mammā) Examples from the Web for mamma Contemporary Examples of mamma
His other films include Mrs. Doubtfire, Mamma Mia, and The Thomas Crown Affair.
Pierce Brosnan’s Life After Bond: From Action Hero to Losing His Daughter to Cancer
Tim Teeman
July 2, 2014
When Retsky showed the pathology report to William Hrushesky, his treating oncologist, the doctor exclaimed, “Mamma mia.”
How Big Pharma Holds Back in the War on Cancer
ProPublica
April 23, 2014
Manolakos, best known for playing Sophie Sheridan in Mamma Mia!
7 Awesome ‘Creep’ Covers: Carrie Manolakos, Scala & Kolacny, Ingrid Michaelson, & More (Video)
The Daily Beast Video
April 23, 2012
In May 2010, an embarrassing audition tape surfaced online that Klein had shot years earlier for Mamma Mia!
Chris Klein Opens Up About His Battle With Alcohol, Katie Holmes, and ‘American Reunion’
Marlow Stern
April 6, 2012
It was unclear if it was one of the Mamma Grizzlies that Palin would later make famous.
The Quirks in the Sarah Palin Emails
Shushannah Walshe, Michael Falcone
June 12, 2011
Historical Examples of mamma
I had rather all the world should be angry with me than my mamma!
Samuel Richardson
But indeed, my dear Mamma, there seem to be snares laying in wait for me.
Samuel Richardson
She knew that in secret Mamma was glad; but she answered the reproof.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
Will you go down, and humble that stubborn spirit of yours to your mamma?
Samuel Richardson
She kept on saying to herself that Mamma didn’t know; she didn’t know what she had done.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
British Dictionary definitions for mamma mamma 1 noun mainly US
- Also: momma (ˈmɑːmə, məˈmɑː) another word for mother 1
- (ˈmɑːmə) informal a buxom and voluptuous woman
Word Origin for mamma C16: reduplication of childish syllable ma; compare Welsh mam, French maman, Russian mama mamma 2 noun plural -mae (-miː)
- the milk-secreting organ of female mammals: the breast in women, the udder in cows, sheep, etc
- (functioning as plural) breast-shaped protuberances, esp from the base of cumulonimbus clouds
Word Origin for mamma C17: from Latin: breast mama noun
- old-fashioned an informal word for mother 1
Word Origin and History for mamma n.
1570s, representing the native form of the reduplication of *ma- that is nearly universal among the Indo-European languages (cf. Greek mamme “mother, grandmother,” Latin mamma, Persian mama, Russian and Lithuanian mama “mother,” German Muhme “mother’s sister,” French maman, Welsh mam “mother”). Probably a natural sound in baby-talk, perhaps imitative of sound made while sucking.
Its late appearance in English is curious, but Middle English had mome (mid-13c.) “an aunt; an old woman,” also an affectionate term of address for an older woman. In educated usage, the stress is always on the last syllable. In terms of recorded usage of related words in English, mama is from 1707, mum is from 1823, mummy in this sense from 1839, mommy 1844, momma 1852, and mom 1867.
mama
1707, spelling variant of mamma. Meaning “sexually attractive woman” first recorded 1925 in black slang; mama’s boy “soft, effeminate male” is from 1901.
mamma in Medicine mamma [măm′ə] n. pl. mam•mae (măm′ē)
- A mammary gland.