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]

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mother of

Donna Ganger, the mother of Good, said her daughter should still be alive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026

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

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

“It’s helping in so many different ways,” said Flower, the mother of two adult children.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 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

Ask and Embla were the father and the mother of all of us: every human being owes its life to its parents and their parents and their parents before them.

From "Norse Mythology" by Neil Gaiman