"Mothering Sunday" meaning in English

See Mothering Sunday in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

Etymology: From the former British custom of visiting mother churches (q.v.) at Mid-Lent, which by the English Civil War had passed on to servants receiving leave to go a-mothering, visiting and providing small gifts to their families. Revived as a national tradition in the early 20th century after the model of Mother's Day in the United States. Head templates: {{en-proper noun|head=Mothering Sunday}} Mothering Sunday
  1. (UK) The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother. Wikipedia link: Mothering Sunday Tags: UK Categories (topical): Holidays
    Sense id: en-Mothering_Sunday-en-name-EV~E4UZo Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Synonyms: Mid-Lent, Mid-Lent Sunday, Mothering Day, Mother's Day (english: UK & Ireland), Laetare Sunday (english: usual liturgical name in Catholicism & Anglicanism), Simnel Sunday, Refection Sunday, Refreshment Sunday (english: in reference to the customary relaxation of Lenten abstention on this day) [dated], Rose Sunday, Sunday of the Five Loaves (english: in reference to Catholic practices on this day) [dated], Jerusalem Sunday
{
  "etymology_text": "From the former British custom of visiting mother churches (q.v.) at Mid-Lent, which by the English Civil War had passed on to servants receiving leave to go a-mothering, visiting and providing small gifts to their families. Revived as a national tradition in the early 20th century after the model of Mother's Day in the United States.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "Mothering Sunday"
      },
      "expansion": "Mothering Sunday",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Holidays",
          "orig": "en:Holidays",
          "parents": [
            "Observances",
            "Calendar",
            "Timekeeping",
            "Time",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1838, William Howitt, Rural Life in England, page 159:",
          "text": "...on Mothering Sunday, when all the ‘servant-lads’ and ‘servant wenches’ are, in some parts of the country, set at liberty for a day, to go and see their mothers...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1880, Arthur Joseph Munby, Dorothy, page 66:",
          "text": "Mary, it's twenty good year—twenty-one, come Mothering Sunday—'Since he was here at the farm.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1894 March, Mary B. Merrill, “Mothering Sunday”, in Mary Mapes Dodge, editor, St. Nicholas: a monthly magazine for boys and girls, volume 21, part 1, page 388:",
          "text": "\"Mothering Sunday,\" the fourth Sunday in Lent, when absent sons and daughters—particularly the young apprentices—would return to their homes with some little present for both parents, but more especially for the mother... Imagine the... pride of the mother in the simple gift, and the admiration of the small brothers and sisters who gathered around and longed for the time when they also would be out in the great unknown world and could come \"a-mothering.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Susan Elkin, 100 Ideas for Secondary School Assemblies, page 12:",
          "text": "Mothering Sunday is a British, Christian tradition. The Americans celebrate ‘Mother's Day’ later in the year.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother."
      ],
      "id": "en-Mothering_Sunday-en-name-EV~E4UZo",
      "links": [
        [
          "fourth",
          "fourth"
        ],
        [
          "Sunday",
          "Sunday"
        ],
        [
          "Lent",
          "Lent"
        ],
        [
          "three",
          "three"
        ],
        [
          "Easter",
          "Easter"
        ],
        [
          "now",
          "now"
        ],
        [
          "especially",
          "especially"
        ],
        [
          "day",
          "day"
        ],
        [
          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "one",
          "one"
        ],
        [
          "mother",
          "mother"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK) The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "Mid-Lent"
        },
        {
          "word": "Mid-Lent Sunday"
        },
        {
          "word": "Mothering Day"
        },
        {
          "english": "UK & Ireland",
          "word": "Mother's Day"
        },
        {
          "english": "usual liturgical name in Catholicism & Anglicanism",
          "word": "Laetare Sunday"
        },
        {
          "word": "Simnel Sunday"
        },
        {
          "word": "Refection Sunday"
        },
        {
          "english": "in reference to the customary relaxation of Lenten abstention on this day",
          "tags": [
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "Refreshment Sunday"
        },
        {
          "word": "Rose Sunday"
        },
        {
          "english": "in reference to Catholic practices on this day",
          "tags": [
            "dated"
          ],
          "word": "Sunday of the Five Loaves"
        },
        {
          "word": "Jerusalem Sunday"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Mothering Sunday"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Mothering Sunday"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From the former British custom of visiting mother churches (q.v.) at Mid-Lent, which by the English Civil War had passed on to servants receiving leave to go a-mothering, visiting and providing small gifts to their families. Revived as a national tradition in the early 20th century after the model of Mother's Day in the United States.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "Mothering Sunday"
      },
      "expansion": "Mothering Sunday",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English proper nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned",
        "en:Holidays"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1838, William Howitt, Rural Life in England, page 159:",
          "text": "...on Mothering Sunday, when all the ‘servant-lads’ and ‘servant wenches’ are, in some parts of the country, set at liberty for a day, to go and see their mothers...",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1880, Arthur Joseph Munby, Dorothy, page 66:",
          "text": "Mary, it's twenty good year—twenty-one, come Mothering Sunday—'Since he was here at the farm.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1894 March, Mary B. Merrill, “Mothering Sunday”, in Mary Mapes Dodge, editor, St. Nicholas: a monthly magazine for boys and girls, volume 21, part 1, page 388:",
          "text": "\"Mothering Sunday,\" the fourth Sunday in Lent, when absent sons and daughters—particularly the young apprentices—would return to their homes with some little present for both parents, but more especially for the mother... Imagine the... pride of the mother in the simple gift, and the admiration of the small brothers and sisters who gathered around and longed for the time when they also would be out in the great unknown world and could come \"a-mothering.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2007, Susan Elkin, 100 Ideas for Secondary School Assemblies, page 12:",
          "text": "Mothering Sunday is a British, Christian tradition. The Americans celebrate ‘Mother's Day’ later in the year.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fourth",
          "fourth"
        ],
        [
          "Sunday",
          "Sunday"
        ],
        [
          "Lent",
          "Lent"
        ],
        [
          "three",
          "three"
        ],
        [
          "Easter",
          "Easter"
        ],
        [
          "now",
          "now"
        ],
        [
          "especially",
          "especially"
        ],
        [
          "day",
          "day"
        ],
        [
          "honor",
          "honor"
        ],
        [
          "one",
          "one"
        ],
        [
          "mother",
          "mother"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK) The fourth Sunday of Lent, three Sundays before Easter, now especially as a day to honor one's mother."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Mothering Sunday"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "Mid-Lent"
    },
    {
      "word": "Mid-Lent Sunday"
    },
    {
      "word": "Mothering Day"
    },
    {
      "english": "UK & Ireland",
      "word": "Mother's Day"
    },
    {
      "english": "usual liturgical name in Catholicism & Anglicanism",
      "word": "Laetare Sunday"
    },
    {
      "word": "Simnel Sunday"
    },
    {
      "word": "Refection Sunday"
    },
    {
      "english": "in reference to the customary relaxation of Lenten abstention on this day",
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ],
      "word": "Refreshment Sunday"
    },
    {
      "word": "Rose Sunday"
    },
    {
      "english": "in reference to Catholic practices on this day",
      "tags": [
        "dated"
      ],
      "word": "Sunday of the Five Loaves"
    },
    {
      "word": "Jerusalem Sunday"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Mothering Sunday"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Mothering Sunday meaning in English (3.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.