mum

• mam
• mom, Mom (US)
• Mum

• IPA^(key): /mʌm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌm

Alternative form of mam, or an abbreviation of mummy. Compare mom, mama.

mum (plural mums)

1. (UK, Ireland, Canada, New England, South Africa, India, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, informal) Mother.
   • 1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 5:

     From the Marvel Mixmaster to the Miracle Microwave, every time a new-fangled gadget has lobbed into the Aussie kitchen, Aussie mums have changed their cooking styles accordingly.

   • 1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, page 278,

     'Ooh Mum, Auntie don′t allow smokin’ - Pat′s eyes were round with awe as Mum struck a match.

   • 2004, Jack Canfield; Mark Victor Hansen; Patty Hansen; Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2, page 336:

     Her mum says that she is deaf and only partially sighted, so I need to go and stand in front of her, so she can see the gift.

   • 2006, Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 11: To Be a King, page 88,

     “Mum! Mum!” he shouted out. The laughter stopped. Two bright, sparkling yellow eyes peeped from the hollow. Atop her head were the fluffy ear tufts that his mum was so proud of because they were fuller and lovelier than those of most Great Horned Owls. It was indeed his mum!

   • 2011, Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang, unnumbered page,

     He′s looking at my mum, at her swollen eyes, busted nose and bloodied lips. She′s mashed up something chronic, and the man who did this to her is my dad.

2. (dated, colloquial) ma'am; a term of respect for an older woman.
   • 1840, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock, volume 1, published 1851, page 130:

     “Wy, mum,” said Mr. Weller, “I don′t think you′ll see a many sich, and that′s the truth. But if my son Samivel vould give me my vay, mum, and dis-pense with his—might I wenter to say the vurd?”
     “What word Mr Weller?” said the housekeeper, blushing slightly.
     “Petticuts, mum,” returned that gentleman, laying his had upon the garments of his grandson. “If my son Samivel vould only dis-pense vith these here, you′d see sich a alteration in his appearance, as the imagination can′t depicter!”

   • 1885, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published 2011, unnumbered page:

     Then she took off the hank and looked me straight in the face, and very pleasant, and says:
     “Come, now, what′s your real name?
     “Wh — what, mum?”
     “What′s your real name? Is it Bill, or Tom, or Bob? — Or what is it?”

Mum is only capitalized when used as a proper noun:

• I don't think Mum will like you.
• I don't think my mum will like you.
• In New England, the word may still be spelt "mom", but it will have the pronunciation of "mum".

• See also Thesaurus:mother

Abbreviation of chrysanthemum.

mum (plural mums)

1. (chiefly US) A chrysanthemum.
2. (US, originally Texas) A decoration made originally of a real chrysanthemum but now usually an artificial (silk) flower combined with ribbons and marked with such indicators as the wearer's name, school name, the year, and so on; traditionally worn by girls at high school homecoming celebrations.

From Middle English mum or mom (“silent”), reminiscent of the sound made when gagged or with a hand over one's mouth. Perhaps related to dated German Mumme (“mask”).

• (verb): mumm (archaic)

mum (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Silent.
   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene vii]:

     The citizens are mum, and speak not a word.

   • 2021 November 2, Jim Tankersley; Katie Rogers; Lisa Friedman, quoting Joe Biden, “With Methane and Forest Deals, Climate Summit Offers Hope After Gloomy Start”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     [Vladimir Putin] has serious climate problems. And he has been mum on his willingness to do anything.

2. (colloquial) Secret.

• keep mum
• mum's the word

mum!

1. stop speaking!, stop talking!, hush!
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Mum, then, and no more.

   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 143:

     Ahab has that that’s bloody on his mind. But, mum; he comes this way.

mum (third-person singular simple present mums, present participle mumming, simple past and past participle mummed)

1. To act in a pantomime or dumb show.

• mummer
• mummery

mum (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) silence
   • 1678, [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part, London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679, →OCLC; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, →OCLC, canto II, page 277:

     Entrust it under solemn Vows / Of Mum and Silence, […]

German Mumme

mum (uncountable)

1. A type of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:

     The clamorous crowd is hushed with mugs of mum.

• MMU, umm

mum

1. eeltail catfish

mum

1. breast

• John Carter, Katie Carter, John Grummitt, Bonnie MacKenzie, Janell Masters, A Sociolinguistic Survey of the Mur Village Vernaculars (2012)

From Ottoman Turkish موم‎ (mum, “candle”), itself from Persian موم‎ (mum).

• IPA^(key): /mum/

mum (definite accusative mumu, plural mumlar)

1. candle

mum

1. candle