Mother Goose

noun

1. the fictitious author of a collection of nursery rhymes first published in London (about 1760) under the title of Mother Goose's Melody.

Mother Goose

noun

1. the imaginary author of the collection of nursery rhymes published in 1781 in London as Mother Goose's Melody

Word History and Origins

Origin of Mother Goose¹

C18: translated from French Contes de ma mère l'Oye (1697), title of a collection of tales by Charles Perrault (1628–1703), French author

Example Sentences

The star of the show, Gloucestershire's Tweedy the Clown, is cast as Mother Goose alongside a cast of experience pantomime actors.

From BBC

Marguleta has tried meeting with families to tout the benefits of Mother Goose — quality care, free meals, long hours — but “we can’t compete with free, no matter how high our quality is.”

From Los Angeles Times

Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite was also added, while retained from the original Bowl program was Manuel de Falla’s “Nights in the Gardens of Spain,” a piano concerto of sorts with Javier Perianes as soloist.

From Los Angeles Times

Sir Ian had been performing alongside comedian John Bishop in pantomime Mother Goose.

From BBC

In it, Ewbank, a Kent State University professor emeritus, imagines how English poets — from Spenser and Shakespeare to Philip Larkin and Stevie Smith — might have reworked the Mother Goose classic “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

From Washington Post