earth mother
or Earth Mother
- the earth conceived of as the female principle of fertility and the source of all life.
- a female spirit or deity serving as a symbol of life or fertility.
- a sensuous, maternal woman.
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Origin of earth mother
First recorded in 1900–05
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for earth-mother
Historical Examples
Demeter (from Ge-meter, earth-mother) was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea.
Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and RomeE.M. Berens
Two were blue like the sky and two dun-red like the flesh of the Earth-mother.
Myths and Legends of California and the Old SouthwestKatharine Berry Judson
The earth itself they designated Pachacamama, or 'Earth-Mother'.
An Introduction to MythologyLewis Spence
Wishing for that whereby thou hast being, I shall go forth from here prayerfully upon the trails of my earth-mother.
Zui FetichesFrank Hamilton Cushing
One of these names, Sirŏna, probably meant the long-lived one, and was applied to the earth-mother.
Celtic ReligionEdward Anwyl
earth mother
- (in various mythologies)
- a female goddess considered as the source of fertility and life
- the earth personified
- informal a sensual or fecund woman
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for earth-mother
n.
1904, folkloric spirit of the earth, conceived as sensual, maternal; a translation of German erdmutter.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper