Mother Shipton

British  

/ ˈʃɪptən /

noun

1. a day-flying noctuid moth, Callistege mi, mottled brown in colour and named from a fancied resemblance between its darker marking and a haggish profile

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Etymology

Origin of Mother Shipton

named after Mother Shipton, a legendary prophetess in 15th-century Yorkshire

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Mother Shipton

But great as is the fame of Mother Shipton, she ranks but second in the list of British prophets.

From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 1 by Mackay, Charles

Old Mother Shipton has been writing such a letter to our old woman, and explaining that no boy's soul would any longer be worth looking after if he be left in your hands.

From Dr. Wortle's School by Trollope, Anthony

Amongst other English prophets, a belief in whose power has not been entirely effaced by the light of advancing knowledge, is Robert Nixon, the Cheshire idiot, a contemporary of Mother Shipton.

From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 1 by Mackay, Charles

My dear Talbot,—You may be quite sure that I shall not repeat to any one what you have told me of Mother Shipton.

From Dr. Wortle's School by Trollope, Anthony

I'm tired of these Old Mother Shipton babblings.

From Told in the East by Mundy, Talbot