Meaning of Maternal | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A mother.
   dated, informal, rare
2. A person related through the mother, or her side of the family; a maternal relative.
   rare

Equivalents

Examples

“In the necessarily brief space allotted to a review in these pages it would be impossible to sketch out the story at any length. Suffice it that there are two fathers, two sons and two daughters; the maternals, for once, go for little, but there is an Aunt Philly—a conception, that starts out in the intense reality of existence.”

“[...] I would especially bring to your attention the manifest propriety of discountenancing any familiarity from your mothers when in society. If obliged to go with your tiresome maternals to any social gathering, you may reclaim your freedom immediately upon entering the room by slipping abstractedly away in the direction of the piano, and from thenceforth being artlessly forgetful of all messages forwarded to you, and miraculously blind to all beckonings and elevation of fans.”

“A little girl of this city, who is acknowledged by all to be pretty smart, was holding a very animated conversation with one of about her own years, a few days since. [...] After naming over various meritorious acts of which their maternals were capable, the one in question put an end to the dispute by exclaiming, "Well, there's one thing my mother can do that yours can't—my mother can take every one of her teeth out at once."”

“Divide what? The estate that came from the father to the son. Amongst whom? The paternal brothers. If it means, that paternals and maternals shall now divide, as paternals formerly did, the whole sentence operates nothing; for without, the half blood on both sides, would have taken. But say it establishes a well-known standard to divide by, and that this standard excludes the maternals, then every word, as well as this word "only," has a material effect and energy.”

“If there are both paternal and maternal uncles and aunts, the maternals take a third, even if there is only one of them, and whether male or female, and the paternals two-thirds, even though there is only one of them, and whether male or female. If the maternals are of one kind, a male has the portion of two females.”

“My maternals were Huguenots on the lamb from the Duque de Guise and his cronies.”

CEFR level