Mother Hubbard

[huhb-erd]

noun

1. a full, loose gown, usually fitted at the shoulders, worn by women.

2. a character in a nursery rhyme.

Mother Hubbard

/ ˈhʌbəd /

noun

1. (sometimes not capitals) a woman's full-length unbelted dress

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mother Hubbard¹

C19: after Mother Hubbard, a character in a nursery rhyme

Example Sentences

In one video the week before Thanksgiving, he enters a Whole Foods and launches into a filthy Mother Hubbard nursery rhyme, a performance for one guy.

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“Old Mother Hubbard went to the cupboard and there wasn’t nothing there,” he said earlier this month as the final stretch arrived before the early signing day Dec. 20.

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After this memorable event, I went to the hatter’s, and the bootmaker’s, and the hosier’s, and felt rather like Mother Hubbard’s dog whose outfit required the services of so many trades.

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Thought to be the oldest playable recording of an American voice, it begins with the sound of brass instruments, followed by recitations of Mary Had a Little Lamb and Old Mother Hubbard.

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And the Corbin Sparrow, with its striking resemblance to Mother Hubbard’s shoe, failed to take off in any meaningful way after going into production in 1999.

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