mother goose
noun · n
Simple meaning
A character that originated in children's fiction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhthergoosSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌðɚˈɡus
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The imaginary author of a collection of nursery rhymes
n
"Mother Goose" is a song by the British progressive rock band Jethro Tull.
A character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes.
A 1970s New Zealand band formed in Dunedin, in 1975.
A figure in the literature of fairy-tales and nursery rhymes.
A ballet made for New York City Ballet's Ravel Festival by balletmaster Jerome Robbins to Ravel's music and scenario, the Ma Mère l'Oye Suite from 1908, orchestrated by the composer in 1912.
A 1944 picture book by Tasha Tudor.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The imaginary author of a collection of nursery rhymes
Used this way, mother goose is a specialist word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in technical or specialist writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Specialist/technical
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Specialized
- Connotation
- Clinical and technical
- Usage feel
- Technical and specialized
Where it naturally appears
- Technical/specialist writing
Usage note
In general conversation this sense usually needs explaining — outside its field, people reach for a plainer word.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.