• IPA: /mʌm/

mum (plural mums)

1. (UK, Australia, New England, Canada, informal) Mother.
   • 1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=D4BSMjeqr2UC&pg=PA278&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hEa3T5WXO4zGmQXJ-YHGAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=GHS2v6Y20mwC&pg=PA336&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5563T7CzGoLAiQfJpdSDCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=qCSXg778fyYC&pg=PA88&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sou3T5iWB7DNmQXV0eDXCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=s8yW8qL4hfgC&pg=PT5&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=sou3T5iWB7DNmQXV0eDXCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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, 1851, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=ONUNAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA130&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hEa3T5WXO4zGmQXJ-YHGAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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, 2011, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=nF-SwmTQB6YC&pg=PT28&dq=%22mum%22|%22mums%22+-intitle:%22mum|mums%22+-inauthor:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hEa3T5WXO4zGmQXJ-YHGAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22mum%22|%22mums%22%20-intitle%3A%22mum|mums%22%20-inauthor%3A%22%22&f=false 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?”

• See also Thesaurus:mother

• French: maman
• German: Mutti, Mama, Mami
• Italian: mamma
• Portuguese: mamãe, mamã
• Russian: ма́ма
• Spanish: mamá

mum (plural mums)

1. A chrysanthemum.

mum (not comparable)

1. (colloquial) Silent.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene vii]:

     The citizens are mum, and speak not a word.

2. (colloquial) Secret.

1. stop speaking!, stop talking!, hush!
   • 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Mum, then, and no more.

mum (mums, present participle mumming; past and past participle mummed)

1. To act in a pantomime or dumb show.

mum (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) silence

mum (uncountable)

1. A sort of strong beer, originally made in Brunswick, Germany.
   • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify )”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. In Three Books, Dublin; London: Reprinted for A. Dodd, OCLC 1033416756 ↗:

1. One's mother

   I wish Mum and Dad didn't argue so much.