English Dictionary

maternal

/məˈtɜːnəl/

noun

(dated, informal) A mother. / A person related through the mother, or her side of the family; a maternal relative.

She received a warm maternal hug from her mother.

意味（1）

(dated, informal) A mother.

In the necessarily brief space allotted to a review in these pages it would be impossible to sketch out the story at any length. Suffice it that there are two fathers, two sons and two daughters; the maternals, for once, go for little, but there is an Aunt Philly—a conception, that starts out in the intense reality of existence.

意味（2）

A person related through the mother, or her side of the family; a maternal relative.

Divide what? The estate that came from the father to the son. Amongst whom? The paternal brothers. If it means, that paternals and maternals shall now divide, as paternals formerly did, the whole sentence operates nothing; for without, the half blood on both sides, would have taken. But say it establishes a well-known standard to divide by, and that this standard excludes the maternals, then every word, as well as this word only, has a material effect and energy.