Word Meanings - MOTHERLY - Book Publishers vocabulary database

Of or pertaining to a mother; like, or suitable for, a mother; tender; maternal; as, motherly authority, love, or care. Hooker. Syn. -- Maternal; paternal. -- Motherly, Maternal. Motherly, being Anglo-Saxon, is the most familiar word of the two

Additional info about word: MOTHERLY

Of or pertaining to a mother; like, or suitable for, a mother; tender; maternal; as, motherly authority, love, or care. Hooker. Syn. -- Maternal; paternal. -- Motherly, Maternal. Motherly, being Anglo-Saxon, is the most familiar word of the two when both have the same meaning. Besides this, maternal is confined to the feelings of a mother toward her own children, whereas motherly has a secondary sense, denoting a care like that of a mother for her offspring. There is, perhaps, a growing tendency thus to separate the two, confining motherly to the latter signification. "They termed her the great mother, for her motherly care in cherishing her brethren whilst young." Sir W. Raleigh.

Related words: (words related to MOTHERLY)

• FAMILIARLY
  In a familiar manner.
• BELLMAN
  A man who rings a bell, especially to give notice of anything in the streets. Formerly, also, a night watchman who called the hours. Milton.
• BESCRATCH
  To tear with the nails; to cover with scratches.
• BELIAL
  An evil spirit; a wicked and unprincipled person; the personification of evil. What concord hath Christ with Belia 2 Cor. vi. 15. A son of Belial, a worthless, wicked, or thoroughly depraved person. 1 Sam. ii. 12.
• BEASTLIHEAD
  Beastliness. Spenser.
• BEWRAP
  To wrap up; to cover. Fairfax.
• BERGOMASK
  A rustic dance, so called in ridicule of the people of Bergamo, in Italy, once noted for their clownishness.
• BESCATTER
  1. To scatter over. 2. To cover sparsely by scattering ; to strew. "With flowers bescattered." Spenser.
• BEVELMENT
  The replacement of an edge by two similar planes, equally inclined to the including faces or adjacent planes.
• BELEAVE
  To leave or to be left. May.
• BESCORN
  To treat with scorn. "Then was he bescorned." Chaucer.
• BETSO
  A small brass Venetian coin.
• BECHE DE MER
  The trepang.
• BELLADONNA
  An herbaceous European plant with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due
• BETOKEN
  1. To signify by some visible object; to show by signs or tokens. A dewy cloud, and in the cloud a bow . . . Betokening peace from God, and covenant new. Milton. 2. To foreshow by present signs; to indicate something future by that which is seen
• BETROTHAL
  The act of betrothing, or the fact of being betrothed; a mutual promise, engagement, or contract for a future marriage between the persons betrothed; betrothment; affiance. "The feast of betrothal." Longfellow.
• BESLUBBER
  To beslobber.
• BENIM
  To take away. Ire . . . benimeth the man fro God. Chaucer.
• BESIEGER
  One who besieges; -- opposed to the besieged.
• BELAMY
  Good friend; dear friend. Chaucer.
• COMBER
  1. One who combs; one whose occupation it is to comb wool, flax, etc. Also, a machine for combing wool, flax, etc. 2. A long, curling wave.
• GABBER
  1. A liar; a deceiver. 2. One addicted to idle talk.
• HAIRBELL
  See HAREBELL
• ORBED
  Having the form of an orb; round. The orbèd eyelids are let down. Trench.
• LAMBERT PINE
  The gigantic sugar pine of California and Oregon (Pinus Lambertiana). It has the leaves in fives, and cones a foot long. The timber is soft, and like that of the white pine of the Eastern States.
• GERBE
  A kind of ornamental firework. Farrow.
• WATER-BEARER
  The constellation Aquarius.
• GABELER
  A collector of gabels or taxes.
• CORYMBED
  Corymbose.
• ABERRATE
  To go astray; to diverge. Their own defective and aberrating vision. De Quincey.