Etymology tree
Proto-Bantu *ngòmbè
Shona mombebor.
English mombie
Borrowed from Shona mombe (“cow”), from Proto-Bantu *ngòmbè.
Meanings
(Zimbabwe) A cow.
'Start looking for mombies.' 2013, Alexandra Fuller, Don't, Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, →ISBN, page 113:
"Mr. Mhene," Chris said, rather cautiously. "On my way here I met a herd of cows wandering down the road. Tourists will come to the Mavuradonha to see elephants and sables, not mombies." 2008, Dick Pitman, A Wild Life: Adventures of an Accidental Conservationist, →ISBN, page 124:
But there are traces, hoof marks of mombies are encrusted in the dried mud. 2008, Lesley Stern, The Smoking Book, →ISBN, page 8:
The baccy crop's looking good, ja, and one of the mombies calved this morning. 2014, Katherine Rundell, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, →ISBN:
(Canada, US, derogatory, slang, sometimes) A mother who is consumed by raising her children to the point of being sleep-deprived or simply obsessed, and hence zombie-like.
A mombie is a woman who "changes" after having a baby. She's been brainwashed by motherhood, […]. She loves nothing more than joining an army of other mombies, so don't be surprised if your old friend-turned-mombie begins to spend her time primarily with other mombies who are all covered in some kind of murky baby secretion. 2013, Blair Koenig, STFU, Parents, →ISBN:
The woman who used to start the day with a Spin class with Suzanne turned into a mombie—a mom zombie who was a shadow of her former self. Showering was no longer important. Why bother? 2016, Suzanne Riss, Jill Sockwell, The Optimist's Guide to Divorce: How to Get Through Your Breakup:
(Canada, US, nonce-word, slang) A zombie (i.e. undead) mother.
There was a blood smear across her mouth, skewed like lipstick applied by a drunken hand. Mom was a fucking zombie. “Mombie,” he said, giggling stupidly, deliriously. 2012, Randy Chandler, Edward M. Erdelac, David James Keaton, Deadcore: 4 Hardcore Zombie Novellas, →ISBN, page 63:
A mombie. I always knew she was undead. It explains everything. 2016, Devon Hartford, Stealing Chastity, →ISBN: