mother ship

Noun

mother ship (plural mother ships)

1. A vessel, aircraft or spacecraft that serves or carries a smaller vessel or vessels that operate independently from it.
2. (broadly) The main source or supporter of something.
   • “Tragically the mothership of terrorism is a country in India’s neighbourhood,” Modi told a gathering in India of the heads of governments of the Brics countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.2016 October 16, Jon Boone, “Narendra Modi labels Pakistan 'mothership of terrorism'”, in The Guardian
3. The largest vessel in a fleet of spaceships, from which the fleet is commanded and smaller spacecraft can be launched.
   • One Tuesday evening early in October, 1960, he and his wife believed they say hovering near their home five or six flying saucers and their mother ship.1965, James Holledge, Flying Saucers Over Australia, Sydney: Horwitz Publications, page 77
4. (broadly) The largest and most fearsome example of something.
   • SDCC is the mothership of all cons. It's enormous. It has the best stars.2015 May 12, Sam Maggs, The Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy: A Handbook for Girl Geeks, Quirk Books, →ISBN, page 114
   • These vices all feed the mothership of hubris, however, which several of the key characters demonstrate in ample measure.2021 July 22, Antoine de Bengy Puyvallée, Kristian Bjørkdahl, Do-Gooders at the End of Aid: Scandinavian Humanitarianism in the Twenty-First Century, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 70