queen-ˈmother
[See queen 2 c.]
1. A queen dowager who is the mother of the reigning sovereign.
| 1577 Frampton Joyfull Newes ii. lxxvi. 43 b He..did sende it to kyng Fraunces the seconde, and to the Queene Mother. 1664–5 Pepys Diary (1879) III. 106 Mr. Povy carried me to Somerset House and showed me the Queene-Mother's Chamber. 1768 H. Walpole Hist. Doubts 98 Why was not the queen-mother applied to..for his support and education? 1853 Maurice Proph. & Kings xi. 177 A usurpation by the queen-mother for six years follows. |
2. A queen who is a mother. Also applied to a queen-bee, and fig.
| 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. i. 190 Let his Queene Mother all alone intreat him To shew his Greefes. a 1658 Cleveland Myrtle-Grove 9 Clarinda rose..Like the Queen-mother of the Stars above. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1818) II. xviii. 118 The first fruits of the queen-mother's vernal parturition assist her. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 24 May 5/1 For more than sixty years the Queen-mother has gone in and out among generations of Windsor people. |
3. a. A variety of plum. b. A variety of pear.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 233/2 Plums,..Saint Julian, Queen Mother. 1767 J. Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gardener (1803) 673 Pears,..Queen mother, Myrobalan [etc.]. 1770 Foote Lame Lover iii. Wks. 1799 II. 86 A damascen plum..does pretty well indeed in a tart, but..to compare it with the queen mother, the padrigons [etc.]. |
4. attrib. as † queen-mother herb, ‘queen's herb’, tobacco (Minsheu Ductor 1617). Obs.
So called after Catherine de Medici, to whom it was sent by Nicot, then ambassador in Portugal (1559–61).