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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Surrogate mother

Surrogate mother \Sur"ro*gate mother\, n.

  1. a person or who serves in place of the biological mother for child, as for caring or nurturing.

  2. a female animal that raises and nurses the offspring of another animal.

  3. a woman who becomes pregnant by an artificial procedure (one other than copulation), and bears a child to be raised by another person. The person on whose behalf the child is gestated and born is usually one of the biological parents. The embryo carried by the surrogate mother may be created by in vitro fertilization, and may have no genetic material from the surrogate mother, or the surrogate mother may be impregnated by artificial insemination, usually by sperm donated by the father who is to raise the child.

    Note: The procedure is common but controversial, and in some states of the United States, contracts for surrogacy are not considered enforceable.

Wiktionary
surrogate mother

n. A woman who gives birth to a child not her own, with the intent to give that child up to at least one of the biological parents once it is born.

WordNet
surrogate mother

n. a woman who bears a child for a couple where the wife is unable to do so; "a surrogate mother is artificially inseminated with the father's semen and carries the fetus to term"

Usage examples of "surrogate mother".

Lorala was getting the rounded look that a baby her age should have, and becoming more of a handful for her surrogate mother, but Lanoga seemed very pleased about it.

His surrogate mother and her infernal idea that by revealing himself he could attain his freedom was the cause of this.

And perhaps the breeding mistress would agree to act as guardian and surrogate mother for a time, so that Zufa could journey back to Kolhar.

The crew picked Ry Diem and the sailmaker Meissner -- surrogate mother and father as they had become -- to extract more from the captain and the researchers.

One who'll be a good surrogate mother for our kids, and whom I can get along with when the war is over.