1. ( BrE also Mothering Sunday ) ( in Britain ) the fourth Sunday in Lent (around the middle of March), when mothers traditionally receive gifts and cards from their children. It was originally a day when servants were given a holiday to visit their families, taking gifts of flowers or a cake.
2. ( in the US ) the second Sunday in May, when mothers traditionally receive gifts, etc. from their children and are taken by their family for a meal at a restaurant. A tradition practised by some Americans, though no longer common, is to wear a carnation (= a flower with a pleasant smell) on Mother’s Day, a coloured one if their mother is alive and a white one if she is dead.
Compare Father’s Day .