Mother Hubbard

Definitions

A long, wide, loose gown with long sleeves and a high neck originally introduced by Christian missionaries as an adaptation of 19th-century European fashion to Polynesia but subsequently inclusive of lighter and more colorful variations.

Equivalents

Examples

“Her arms were like⟳ legs of mutton, her breasts like⟳ giant cabbages; her face⟳, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. I do not know⟳ how many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousness of her bosom. She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she wore all day long a large straw hat.”

CEFR level