Mother Shipton

British  

/ ˈʃɪptən /

noun

1. a day-flying noctuid moth, Callistege mi, mottled brown in colour and named from a fancied resemblance between its darker marking and a haggish profile

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Etymology

Origin of Mother Shipton

named after Mother Shipton, a legendary prophetess in 15th-century Yorkshire

Example Sentences

Barney Ryan, seized with an inspiration, broke suddenly into "Mother Shipton".

From Jonah by Stone, Louis

Somewhere in a wood there is a stone, supposed to be a tombstone of the prophetess Mother Shipton, and bearing an undecipherable inscription.

From Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies by Jefferies, Richard

The prophecies of Mother Shipton are still believed in many of the rural districts of England.

From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 1 by Mackay, Charles

"Oh, Mother Shipton, and is that yourself? and how pleased we is to see ye, and just tip us yer welwet purse, and we'll give it yer back when we're this way again."

From A Son of Hagar A Romance of Our Time by Caine, Hall, Sir

I think I can trace an acquaintance between him and Mother Shipton.

From Dr. Wortle's School by Trollope, Anthony