English

Proper noun

Mount

1. A surname​.

Luxembourgish

Etymology

From a merger of Old High German māno, from Proto-Germanic *mēnô, and Old High German mānōd, from Proto-Germanic *mēnōþs, both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s. See Mound for more.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məʊ̯nt/
• Homophone: Mound

Noun

Mount m ‎(plural Méint)

1. month

English

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.

Derived terms

• (abbreviation): Mt.

Translations

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. (heading, physical) To move upwards.
   1. (transitive) To get upon; to ascend; to climb.

      to mount stairs‎

      • John Dryden (1631-1700)

        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.
      • John Dryden (1631-1700)

        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.
      • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

        What power is it which mounts my love so high?

   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.

      • Mrs. Cowley (1743-1809)

        The fire of trees and houses mounts on high.

2. (transitive) To attach (an object) to a support.

   to mount a mailbox on a post‎

   • 1879, Richard Jefferies, The Amateur Poacher, chapter1:

     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, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:

     “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.”

   1. (transitive, computing) To attach (a drive or device) to the file system in order to make it available to the operating system.

      How do I mount this external hard disk?‎

3. (intransitive, sometimes with up) To increase in quantity or intensity.

   The bills mounted up and the business failed.  There is mounting tension in Crimea.‎

4. (obsolete) To attain in value; to amount (to).
   • Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

     Bring then these blessings to a strict account, / Make fair deductions, see to what they mount.

5. (transitive) To get on top of (an animal) to mate.
   1. (transitive, slang) To have sexual intercourse with someone.
6. (transitive) To begin (a 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.

7. (transitive, archaic) To deploy (cannon) for use in or around it.

   to mount cannon‎

8. (transitive) To prepare and arrange the scenery, furniture, etc. for use in (a play or production).

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:sexual intercourse

Antonyms

• dismount
• demount
• unmount

Translations

Related terms

• amount
• mountain
• paramount
• surmount