mother of

Idioms  

1. The best or greatest of a type, as in That was the mother of all tennis matches. This expression originated during the Gulf War as a translation of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's term umm al-ma'arik, for “major battle”; the Arabic “mother of” is a figure of speech for “major” or “best.” It was quickly adopted and applied to just about any person, event, or activity. [Slang; late 1980s]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mother of

“As luck would have it, the mother of Friend of Marco 1 was head of the Unesco bureau in Venice,” Mr. Warrack recalls.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

The mother of The Times’ art critic chose to evacuate with some silverware and a Spanish shawl, “in case we needed to sell something.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

She therefore cannot be the biological mother of the fetus she carries.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

The force is also looking into donations given to the party by Fiona Cottrell, mother of longstanding Farage ally George Cottrell, as well as a company controlled by its deputy leader Richard Tice.

From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026

The mother of one of the kids asked me to give the introduction.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana