ˈgodˌmother
[Cf. godfather.]
A female sponsor considered in relation to her god-child.
| c 1000 Martyrol. in Cockayne Shrine 140 Heo slep æt þære godmodor huse. c 1175 [see godfather]. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 1693 Also shal þe womman wonde To take here godmodrys husbonde. 1340 [see god-daughter]. c 1420 Chron. Vilod. st. 553 Hurre godfather and hurre godmores. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. 435 They founde y{supt} Mawde..was godmother vnto y⊇ Kyng Charlys hir husbonde. 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 210 Christened and Baptised, the Godfathers beyng the Abbot and Pryor of Westmynster, and the godmother the lady Scrope. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V, Wks. (1711) 105 The arch-bishop of St. Andrew's & earl of Arran being his godfathers, & the old queen, the king's mother, his god⁓mother. 1710–11 Swift Lett. (1767) III. 87 A girl..and was poor Stella forced to stand for godmother? 1849 Lytton Caxtons 12 When the question of godmother and godfather was fairly put to him, he [etc.]. a 1878 Princess Alice in Mem. (1884) 78 Louis's mother is to be god-mother. |
b. A female ‘sponsor’ of a bell.
| 1844 Dickens Chimes i, They had had their Godfathers and Godmothers, these Bells. |
Hence ˈgodmother v., to provide with a godmother. Also ˈgodˌmotherhood, ˈgodˌmothership, the office of a godmother.
| 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin. ii. x. 175 Urbanus holds it lawfull that Sons and Daughters of Godfathers and Godmothers born before or after such their Godfather or Godmothership, should marry. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. xlviii. 376 My Lord Davers, and the Earl of C―, shall be godfathers; and it must be doubly godmothered too. 1848 Dickens Dombey v, Elevated thus to the godmothership of little Paul..Miss Tox was [etc.]. 1863 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. III. 190 But the Godmotherhood?..I don't belong to the English Church. |