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MUM
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected forms: mummed , mumming
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Secrecy
Example:
mum's the word
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("mum" is a kind of...):
secrecy; secretiveness; silence (the trait of keeping things secret)
Derivation:
mum (failing to speak or communicate etc when expected to)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Informal terms for a mother
Synonyms:
ma; mama; mamma; mammy; mom; momma; mommy; mum; mummy
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("mum" is a kind of...):
female parent; mother (a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother))
Sense 3
Meaning:
Of China
Synonyms:
Chrysanthemum morifolium; Dendranthema grandifloruom; florist's chrysanthemum; florists' chrysanthemum; mum
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("mum" is a kind of...):
chrysanthemum (any of numerous perennial Old World herbs having showy brightly colored flower heads of the genera Chrysanthemum, Argyranthemum, Dendranthema, Tanacetum; widely cultivated)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Failing to speak or communicate etc when expected to
Example:
the witness remained silent
Synonyms:
mum; silent
Classified under:
Similar:
incommunicative; uncommunicative (not inclined to talk or give information or express opinions)
Derivation:
mum (secrecy)
Context examples:
Now, then, mum?
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The level of connectivity of the brain waves varies according to the mum’s emotional state: when mothers express more positive emotions their brain becomes much more strongly connected with their baby’s brain.
(Mothers’ and babies’ brains ‘more in tune’ when mother is happy, University of Cambridge)
I won't waste no time a-cryin', but git your things ready right away, mum, she said heartily, as she wiped her face on her apron, gave her mistress a warm shake of the hand with her own hard one, and went away to work like three women in one.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
