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Mother of Parliaments

British  

noun

  1. the British Parliament: the model and creator of many other Parliaments

"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

Etymology

Origin of Mother of Parliaments

C19: first used of England in 1865 by John Bright (1811–89), British Liberal statesman

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Nor are stable and effective minority governments unknown in Commonwealth countries that can trace their parliamentary and governance systems back to "the Mother of Parliaments" in Westminster.

From BBC Apr. 28, 2015

This reverence for heritage is amplified by that often mis-applied phrase, The Mother of Parliaments.

From BBC Mar. 29, 2015

They asked the "Mother of Parliaments" to tide them over with a loan of $402,000 and to guarantee their liabilities, this to stop a run which had started on the Bank.

From Time Magazine Archive

A new nation is being brought to birth by the Mother of Parliaments herself.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hardly did they know whether it would not be deformed if it survived: whether this was the Promised, or another child yet to be conceived in the womb of the Mother of Parliaments.

From The National Being Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity by Russell, George William

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