Citations:mama bear

Noun: "a female bear currently rearing one or more cubs"

 * 1995 — Melinda Crow, The Rockhound's Guide to New Mexico, Globe Pequot (1995), ISBN 9781560443407, page 9:
 * A mama bear will often put her cubs in trees for safety while she looks for food.
 * 2002 — Karen Berger, More Everyday Wisdom: Trail-Tested Advice from the Experts, The Mountaineers Books (2002), ISBN 9780898868999, page 190:
 * Even if you have the dog on a leash, its behavior during a bear encounter could be unpredictable. It might start barking, which could raise the hackles of a mama bear protecting her cubs.
 * 2010 — Sue Hamilton, Mauled by a Bear, ABDO (2010), ISBN 9781604539325, page 12:
 * However, around 9:30 pm on a fall evening in 2003, Kim Heil-Smith of Cook County opened the door from her house to her attached garage and came face-to-face with a mama bear and her cub.

Noun: "(slang) a woman, especially a mother, who is extremely protective of a child or children"

 * 1998 — James Dobson, Home with a Heart, Tyndale House Publishers (1999), ISBN 9780842335133, page 35:
 * There is no quicker way to anger a mama bear than for someone to criticize her precious cub.
 * 2001 —Ginny Aiken, Camellia, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (2001), ISBN 9780842335614, page 327:
 * As a mother four, I'm well known among friends as a mama bear — a preshrunk one, at that. At four-foot-eleven, I don't look like I'm ready to tackle any threat to my cubs, three of whom hover above the six-foot line. But don't test me!
 * 2004 — Carrie Mac, The Beckoners, Orca Book Publishers (2004), ISBN 9781551433097, pages 14-15:
 * She might rag on her little sister a bit, but the fact remained that she was more of a mama bear than Alice would ever be when it came to Cassy.
 * 2005 — Leonard Felder, Wake Up Or Break Up: 8 Crucial Steps to Strengthening Your Relationship, Rodale (2005), ISBN 9781594860720, page 143:
 * I know I might sound like I'm micromanaging again, but hey, I'm a mama bear and I have trouble staying silent if my baby girl is hurting."
 * Jonathan looked at his wife for a moment and said lovingly, "I know you're a mama bear and I'm glad you are.
 * 2005 — Luanne Rice, Summer's Child, Bantam Books (2005), ISBN 0553587625, page 149:
 * It didn't take long for Lily — inexperienced though she was in the ways of hospital procedure — to complain to the cardiologist and put a stop to the student visits. She had learned right at the beginning how to be a mama bear, and she'd only gotten fiercer over the years.
 * 2005 — Misty Simon, Poison Ivy, Draumr Publishing (2005), ISBN 9781933157054, page 34:
 * Nothing like a mama bear protecting her thirty-five-year-old cub from the unworthy paws of the replacement for his affections.
 * 2006 — Kimberly Ripley, "Julia Roberts Confronts Paparazzi for Photographing Her Children", Celebs.gather.com, 17 November 2006:
 * And while it seems that the mama bear didn't sink her claws in too deeply this time, the next photographer should probably be even more careful and think twice before even considering taking pictures of Julia Roberts' children.
 * 2006 — Nancy Wilson, Building Her House: Commonsensical Wisdom for Christian Women, Canon Press & Book Service (2006), ISBN 9781591280392, page 66:
 * The mama-bear syndrome does not encourage masculinity. The mama-bear is the mother who wants to fight all her son's battles for him and pick up all the pieces when he fails.
 * 2007 — Gina Serpe, "Oprah Breaks Silence on School Scandal", E! Online, 5 November 2007:
 * "I am a mama bear when it comes to protecting my children," Winfrey said. "These girls are my children. That is not just rhetoric. I take their futures, and the possibility for what their futures hold, very personally."
 * 2007 — Milan Yerkovich & Kay Yerkovich, How We Love: A Revolutionary Approach to Deeper Connections in Marriage, Random House (2006), ISBN 9781400072989, page 71:
 * Marshall himself realized in a later session how overprotective his mother had been. "All the kids in the neighborhood hated to see her coming out the front door. She was such a mama bear. She scolded them plenty of times whenever I tattled on somebody. I was always right, and they were always wrong. Then she would say, 'Marshall, you don't have to play with those mean boys. Come inside and watch TV with me.'"
 * 2008 — Patrick Walsh, "Junket Report: Rambo -- Interviews with Julie Benz, Matthew Marsden, & Graham McTavish", Cinematical, 25 January 2008:
 * My character in Punisher 2 is Angela Donatelli, she's an Italian from Brooklyn, New York. My character in Rambo, Sarah, is very soft and vulnerable. Angela's got a bit more of an edge. She's a fighter, she's a mama bear, she has a child she's protecting.
 * 2009 — Sarah Enochs, The Code of Dignity, iUniverse (2009), ISBN 9780595434800, page 68:
 * Ava was a mama bear protecting her baby cubs — but it was getting out of control. If anyone mentioned anything about her kids, she immediately became defensive and removed them from the situation.
 * 2009 — Jennifer Ring, Stolen Bases: Why American Girls Don't Play Baseball, University of Illinois Press (2009), ISBN 9780252032820, page 3:
 * I am less fine, wary and hypersensitive for any signs of unfair treatment. I am a mama bear, my ears pricked up and my nostrils twitching, alert to any possible threat to my cub's love of baseball.
 * 2009 — Kimberly Van Meter, Kids on the Doorstep, Harlequin (2009), ISBN 9780373715770, dedication, page 6
 * To my sister, Kristen, who wears the badge of motherhood with pride and inspires people to love without reservation, without judgment, without fear. She is a mama bear and a wonder to watch in action!
 * 2010 — Barry Caine, "Bening says working with Julianne Moore as a couple was easy", The Providence Journal, 30 July 2010:
 * “I knew she had this great ability to go between comedy and drama,” Cholodenko says. “I didn’t expect the kind of soulfulness she showed. ... With four kids, the whole thing of being a mama bear is pretty close to her heart. I think she wore that pretty easily.”
 * 2010 — Kimbriel Dean, The Apothecary's Song: An Ode to 2012 in F Sharp, AuthorHouse (2010), ISBN 9781449080112, page 53:
 * She decides then and there that no matter how wacky the curveballs with which the universe pelts her, she will make sure her child lives her happiest possible life. As a mama bear, she realizes she may have an aggressive, fighting instinct buried somwhere inside her sometimes-too-gentle exterior.
 * 2010 — Merle Roehr, There Came a Child: Insights Into Christian Childcare, AuthorHouse (2010), ISBN 9781449079628, page 39:
 * My wife says she becomes a mama bear, believe me, she knows what she is talking about. That moment the parent leaves and the child shows hurt or tears and you feel it, you want to protect; they become yours.
 * 2011 — Paula Graves, Major Nanny, Harlequin (2011), ISBN 9780373695720, page 77:
 * "I overreacted. I'm just a mama bear where my son is concerned. I should have explained instead of getting angry. It's just — he's going to have problems ahead of him, no matter what I do. Therapy only goes so far."
 * 2011 — Kendra Wilkinson, Being Kendra: Cribs, Cocktails, and Getting My Sexy Back, HarperCollins (2011), ISBN 9780062091185, page 72:
 * Because when I first had baby Hank I was very insecure in my role as a mother. I was a hormonal wreck and beyond protective, a real mama bear.
 * 2011 — Lis Wiehl & April Henry, Heart of Ice, Thomas Nelson Inc (2011), ISBN 9781595547071, page 238:
 * Sara gave her head a short, sharp shake. "No. I won't let him out of my sight."
 * Nic recognized a mama bear when she saw one.