mothering

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The nurturing of a child by its mother.

   “The unification or bringing together of disparate things […] which Mrs Ramsay seeks to achieve by marryings and motherings […]”

2. (countable, uncountable)The protective behavior of a mother towards her child.
3. (countable, uncountable)Nurturing or protective behavior reminiscent of that performed by a literal mother.

   “The institution in the past has done monumental work harboring the homeless, mothering the homeless, mothering the motherless, caring for the poor and dependent”

   “He began pounding her with endless questions: “Are you happy? Why don’t you speak? Am I boring you?” She glowed into love, smiled, kissed him, fondled him like a mother. The male resents this mothering in his depth. It shields the home. The conquered woman turns back as a mother to draw him in, more and more into herself, to her warm quiescent hearth, to the unborn.”

   “"If we must choose between teaching and mothering," says one teacher, "we take care of mothering first."”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, obsolete, uncountable)Clipping of a-mothering (“practice of visiting one's literal or figurative mother or mother church”).

   “Mothering-.—In former days, when the Roman Catholic was the established religion, it was the custom for people to visit their Mother Church on MidLent Sunday, and to make their offerings at the high altar. ...the now remaining practice of Mothering, or going to visit parents upon Mid-Lent Sunday, is really owing to that good old custom.”

   “"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."”

verb

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present)present participle and gerund of mother