Mother Goose

American  

noun

1. the fictitious author of a collection of nursery rhymes first published in London (about 1760) under the title of Mother Goose's Melody.

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Mother Goose British  

noun

1. the imaginary author of the collection of nursery rhymes published in 1781 in London as Mother Goose's Melody

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Etymology

Origin of Mother Goose

C18: translated from French Contes de ma mère l'Oye (1697), title of a collection of tales by Charles Perrault (1628–1703), French author

Example Sentences

The star of the show, Gloucestershire's Tweedy the Clown, is cast as Mother Goose alongside a cast of experience pantomime actors.

From BBC • Dec. 7, 2023

Marguleta has tried meeting with families to tout the benefits of Mother Goose — quality care, free meals, long hours — but “we can’t compete with free, no matter how high our quality is.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2023

"Mother Goose" kicks off in Brighton on December 3 before moving to London, where it will show until end-January.

From Reuters • Oct. 3, 2022

He won a Kate Greenaway Medal — considered the Oscars of children’s publishing — in 1966 for illustrating a book of nursery rhymes, “The Mother Goose Treasury.”

From Seattle Times • Aug. 10, 2022

My father would have said Mother Goose was about to shake the feathers out of her pillows.

From "The Old Willis Place" by Mary Downing Hahn