mount

See also: Mount

English

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /maʊnt/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊnt

Etymology 1

From Middle English mount, munt, from Old English munt, from Latin mons (“a hill, mountain”), from a root seen also in ēmineō (“I project, I protrude”) (English eminent).

Noun

mount (plural mounts)

  1. A mountain.
  2. (palmistry) Any of seven fleshy prominences in the palm of the hand, taken to represent the influences of various heavenly bodies.
    the mount of Jupiter
  3. (obsolete) A bulwark for offence or defence; a mound.
    • Bible, Jer. vi. 6
      Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem.
  4. (obsolete) A bank; a fund.
Usage notes

As with the names of rivers and lakes, the names of mountains are typically formed by adding the word before or after the unique term. Mount is used in situations where the word precedes the unique term: Mount Everest, Mount Rushmore, Mount Tai. Except in the misunderstood translation of foreign names (as with China's Mount Hua), the terms used with mount will therefore usually be nouns: Mount Olympus but Rugged Mountain and Crowfoot Mountain. It thus corresponds to the earlier the mount or mountain of ~.

Mount is no longer used as a generic synonym for mountain except in poetry and other literary contexts. An example is the fossilized form within the phrase Sermon on the Mount.

Derived terms
Translations
mountain — see mountain

Etymology 2

From Middle English mounten, from Anglo-Norman mounter, from Old French monter, from Medieval Latin montare (“to mount; literally, go up hill”), from Latin mons (“a hill, mountain”); compare French monter.

Noun

mount (plural mounts)

  1. An animal, usually a horse, used to ride on, unlike a draught horse
    The rider climbed onto his mount.
  2. A mounting; an object on which another object is mounted.
    The post is the mount on which the mailbox is installed.
  3. (obsolete) A rider in a cavalry unit or division.
    The General said he has 2,000 mounts.
Translations

Verb

mount (third-person singular simple present mounts, present participle mounting, simple past and past participle mounted)

  1. (transitive) To get upon; to ascend; to climb.
    to mount stairs
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
      Or shall we mount again the Rural Throne, / And rule the Country Kingdoms, once our own?
  2. (transitive) To place oneself on (a horse, a bicycle, etc.); to bestride.
    The rider mounted his horse.
  3. (transitive) To cause to mount; to put on horseback; to furnish with animals for riding.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Dryden
      to mount the Trojan troop
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To cause (something) to rise or ascend; to drive up; to raise; to elevate; to lift up.
  5. (obsolete, intransitive) To rise on high; to go up; to be upraised or uplifted; to tower aloft; to ascend; often with up.
    • Bible, Jeremiah li. 53
      Though Babylon should mount up to heaven.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Mrs. Cowley
      The fire of trees and houses mounts on high.
  6. (transitive) To attach (an object) to a support, backing, framework etc.
    to mount a mailbox on a post
    to mount a specimen on a small plate of glass for viewing by a microscope
    to mount a photograph on cardboard
    to mount an engine in a car
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175, page 035:
      But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶ […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook, and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, […].
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803:
      “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
  7. (transitive, computing) To attach (a drive or device) to the file system in order to make it available to the operating system.
      • 1998, Lincoln D. Stein, Web Security: A Step-by-step Reference Guide (page 377)
        Burn the contents of the staging area onto a writable CD-ROM, carry it over to the Web server, and mount it.
  8. (intransitive, sometimes with up) To increase in quantity or intensity.
    The bills mounted up and the business failed.  There is mounting tension in Crimea.
  9. (obsolete) To attain in value; to amount (to).
    • (Can we date this quote?) Alexander Pope
      Bring then these blessings to a strict account, / Make fair deductions, see to what they mount.
  10. (transitive) To get on top of (an animal) to mate.
  11. (transitive, slang) To have sexual intercourse with someone.
  12. (transitive) To begin (a campaign, military assault, etc.); to launch.
    The General gave the order to mount the attack.
    • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
      For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.
  13. (transitive, archaic) To deploy (cannon) for use.
    to mount a cannon
  14. (transitive) To prepare and arrange the scenery, furniture, etc. for use in (a play or production).
  15. (cooking) To incorporate fat, especially butter, into (a dish, especially a sauce to finish it).
    Mount the sauce with one tablespoon of butter.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Translations

Further reading
  • mount in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
  • mount in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
  • mount at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English munt and Anglo-Norman mount, both from Latin mōns.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /muːnt/, /munt/

Noun

mount (plural mountes or mouns)

  1. A mountain; a mount or peak, especially the Alps.

Descendants

References
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