English [ edit ]

Etymology [ edit ]

Calque of Arabic أُمّ‎ (ʾumm, “mother (of)”). Popularized and given its current sense by Saddam Hussein's claim that the impending Gulf War would be the أُمّ المَعَارِك‎ (ʾumm al-maʿārik, “mother of (all) battles”),[1] though mother had long been used in somewhat similar senses in English,[2] and other familial terms are used with the same meaning, like granddaddy (of all traffic jams) and father (of all battles).

Phrase [ edit ]

mother of all —

( colloquial ) Used before a plural noun to form a compound noun having the sense of: the greatest or largest of (its kind); the most epic example of (its kind). father of all granddaddy of all grandmammy of all 2003 December 26, "2003 Movie Guide", Christian Science Monitor : Driving to a dinner engagement, a Parisian woman gets stuck in the mother of all traffic jams, offers a ride to a handsome pedestrian, and enters a fleeting affair that catches both of them by surprise.

December 26, "2003 Movie Guide", : 2006, Jean Chatzky, "Get the Scoop", Money, vol. 35.8: Five mail-order ice creams. Four pregnant women. Welcome to the mother of all taste tests.

See also [ edit ]

References [ edit ]