Definition of "mum"

From the Marvel Mixmaster to the Miracle Microwave, every time a new-fangled gadget has lobbed into the Aussie kitchen, Aussie mums have changed their cooking styles accordingly.

1987, Kerry Cue, Hang On To Your Horses Doovers, page 5

'Ooh Mum, Auntie don′t allow smokin’ - Pat′s eyes were round with awe as Mum struck a match.

1993, Hilda Hollingsworth, Places of Greater Safety, Zenobia Press edition, page 278

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.

2004, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen, Irene Dunlap, Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul 2, page 336

“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!

2006, Kathryn Lasky, Guardians of Ga'Hoole, Book 11: To Be a King, page 88

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.

2011, Chyna, FAM: Rolling in a London Girl Gang, unnumbered page

“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!”

1840, Charles Dickens, Master Humphrey's Clock, volume 1, published 1851, page 130

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?”

1885, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published 2011, unnumbered page

I don't know whether that's true or whether New Yorkers are being enjoined from watering the mums in their window boxes or whatever, but I do know that there hasn't been one rain-delay in the whole tournament so far […] .

1996, David Foster Wallace, “Democracy and Commerce at the US Open”, in Both Flesh And Not, Penguin, published 2013, page 139

The citizens are mum, and speak not a word.

c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene vii]

[Vladimir Putin] has serious climate problems. And he has been mum on his willingness to do anything.

2021 November 2, Jim Tankersley, Katie Rogers, Lisa Friedman, quoting Joe Biden, “With Methane and Forest Deals, Climate Summit Offers Hope After Gloomy Start”, in The New York Times‎

Mum, then, and no more.

1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene ii]

Ahab has that that’s bloody on his mind. But, mum; he comes this way.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 31, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, page 143

Entrust it under solemn Vows / Of Mum and Silence, […]

1678, [Samuel Butler], “[The Third Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The Third and Last Part, London: […] Robert Horne, […], published 1679; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, canto II, page 277

The clamorous crowd is hushed with mugs of mum.

1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd