den mother
2
6.5
- noun
- /dɛn ˈmʌðər/
- Jargon
:
madre de manada
- As the den mother, she planned fun activities for the boys and taught them important skills.
- Cub Scout den mother
- Scout den mother
Examples
-
You know how in cub scouts you have den mothers?
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I'm a den mother.
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Mom's our den mother!
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You're a den mother.
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Mrs. Stuben, the den mother, organized a camping trip for the Cub Scouts.
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Many parents appreciate the dedication of a den mother in helping their children learn teamwork.
Synonyms
2
6.1
A woman who cares for and helps people living together, like in a dormitory
How Responsible
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'a woman who supervises a group' is directly derivable from 'den' (a small scout grouping) + 'mother' (a maternal caregiver), so the overall meaning is compositional rather than idiomatic. This group+caretaker pattern is common cross-linguistically and in English (e.g., 'camp mother', 'mother hen'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Den mother comes from Cub Scouts: a den is a small group called 'cubs' and a mother was the adult who cared for them like a parent. That's why den mother means 'a woman who supervises and leads a den of Cub Scouts'.