Mother Hubbard

English

Mother Hubbard (plural Mother Hubbards)

(fashion) A long, wide, loose gown with long sleeves and a high neck originally introduced by Christian missionaries as an adaptation of 19th-century European fashion to Polynesia but subsequently inclusive of lighter and more colorful variations.
- 1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 49”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
  Her arms were like legs of mutton, her breasts like giant cabbages; her face, broad and fleshy, gave you an impression of almost indecent nakedness, and vast chin succeeded to vast chin. I do not know how many of them there were. They fell away voluminously into the capaciousness of her bosom. She was dressed usually in a pink Mother Hubbard, and she wore all day long a large straw hat.

a loose-fitting dress

Mother Hubbard (comparative more Mother Hubbard, superlative most Mother Hubbard)

(idiomatic, colloquial) Empty.
- 2012, Cecil Castellucci, Beige‎^[1], page 24:
  "Other than my earthquake kit, the cupboards are looking pretty Mother Hubbard. We can go to the Farmers Market and get some produce."
- 2013, Colum McCann, TransAtlantic‎^[2]:
  "It's a bit Mother Hubbard, I'm afraid.'" We made our way through the empty house.