Parent

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. One who begets, or brings forth, offspring; a father or a mother. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. Eph. vi. 1.

2. That which produces; cause; source; author; begetter; as, idleness is the parent of vice. Regular industry is the parent of sobriety. Channing. Parent cell. (Biol.) See Mother cell, under Mother, also Cytula. -- Parent nucleus (Biol.), a nucleus which, in cell division, divides, and gives rise to two or more daughter nuclei. See Karyokinesis, and Cell division, under Division.