Associations to the word «Motherhouse»

Wiktionary

MOTHERHOUSE, noun. The monastery from which the other 'houses' of a religious order or congregation were (directly or indirectly) founded, often eponymous.
MOTHERHOUSE, noun. The convent which is the seat (and often the above original foundation) of the superior of an order or congregation, and/or on which lower ranking houses (such as priories under an abbot) depend.

Wise words

Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied. Even the interpretation and use of words involves a process of free creation.
Noam Chomsky