mount
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /maʊnt/
ipa: [maʊnt]
ipa: [maʊnʔ]
ipa: [mãʊ̃(n)ʔ]
rhymes: -aʊnt
Forms: form: mounts
form: mounting
form: mounted
form: mounted
Etymology: From Middle English mounten, from Anglo-Norman munter, from Vulgar Latin *montāre (“climb”), from Latin montem (“mountain”). Compare modern French monter.
Senses: examples: text: to mount stairs
text: Or shall we mount again the Rural Throne,
And rule the Country Kingdoms, once our own?
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the page)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: This time I was received with a smile. Monsieur Poirot was within. Would I mount? I mounted accordingly.
ref: 1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 144:
glosses: To get upon; to ascend; to climb.
examples: text: The rider mounted his horse.
glosses: To place oneself on (a horse, a bicycle, etc.); to bestride.
examples: text: to mount the Trojan troop
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To cause to mount; to put on horseback; to furnish with animals for riding.
examples: text: What power is it which mounts my love so high?
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
glosses: To cause (something) to rise or ascend; to drive up; to raise; to elevate; to lift up.
topics: government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: To sit on a combatant's torso with the face pointing towards the opponent's head; to assume the mount position in ground grappling.
examples: text: Though Babylon ſhould mount vp to heauen, and though ſhee ſhould fortifie the height of her ſtrength, yet from me ſhall ſpoilers come vnto her, ſaith the Lord.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 51:53, column 1:
text: The fire of trees and houses mounts on high.
ref: 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis:
text: I was at the Mathematical School, where the Maſter taught his Pupils after a Method ſcarce imaginable to us in Europe. The Propoſition and Demonſtration were fairly written on a thin Wafer, with Ink compoſed of a Cephalick Tincture. This the Student was to ſwallow upon a faſting Stomach, and for three days following eat nothing but Bread and Water. As the Wafer digeſted, the Tincture mounted to his Brain, bearing the Propoſition along with it.
ref: 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author Permitted to See the Grand Academy of Lagado. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 78:
text: ⁠Thy spirit ere our fatal loss
⁠Did ever rise from high to higher;
⁠As mounts the heavenward altar-fire,
As flies the lighter thro’ the gross.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XL”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 62:
glosses: To rise on high; to go up; to be upraised or uplifted; to tower aloft; to ascend; often with up.
examples: text: to mount a mailbox on a post
text: to mount a specimen on a small plate of glass for viewing by a microscope
text: to mount a photograph on cardboard
text: to mount an engine in a car
text: 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,[…].
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: “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.”
ref: 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
text: He spends his days flitting through the woods with his shot-gun and his butterfly-net, and his evenings in mounting the many specimens he has acquired.
ref: 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
glosses: To attach (an object) to a support, backing, framework etc.
examples: text: Burn the contents of the staging area onto a writable CD-ROM, carry it over to the Web server, and mount it.
ref: 1998, Lincoln D. Stein, Web Security: A Step-by-step Reference Guide, page 377:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: To attach (a drive or device) to the file system in order to make it available to the operating system.
examples: text: The bills mounted up and the business failed.  There is mounting tension in Crimea.
synonyms: build
glosses: To increase in quantity or intensity.
examples: text: Bring then these blessings to a strict account,
Make fair deductions, see to what they mount.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To attain in value; to amount (to).
examples: text: When God presented Lilith to Adam, Adam was overjoyed and enthusiastically set her on the ground and tried to mount her after the fashion of the animals; but Lilith protested and said: "Why should I be on the bottom and you on the top?"
ref: 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 16:
glosses: To get on top of (another) for the purpose of copulation.
examples: text: She mounted him last night.
glosses: To have or begin sexual intercourse with someone.
examples: text: The General gave the order to mount the attack.
text: 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.
ref: 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport:
text: Corals mount a two-stage response to heat stress, first bleaching and then dying. Some of the southernmost reefs, exposed to the hottest water, are already dead but those in slightly cooler locations have a better chance of survival and regeneration.
ref: 2023 August 7, Clive Cookson, “Missing ice and bleached coral: the sudden warming of the oceans”, in Financial Times:
text: A Bolivian general has been arrested and accused of mounting a coup against the government after attempting to storm the presidential palace on Wednesday.
ref: 2024 July 27, “Bolivian general arrested and accused of coup after dramatic showdown with president”, in edition.cnn.com:
glosses: To begin (a campaign, military assault, etc.); to launch.
examples: text: to mount a cannon
glosses: To deploy (cannon) for use.
glosses: To prepare and arrange the scenery, furniture, etc. for use in (a play or production).
examples: text: Mount the sauce with one tablespoon of butter.
topics: cooking
food
lifestyle
glosses: To incorporate fat, especially butter, into (a dish, especially a sauce to finish it).
Synonyms: sense: to have sexual intercourse with someone
word: coitize
word: go to bed with
word: sleep with
word: copulate with
Derived terms: automount
mismount
mountable
mount a horse foaled by an acorn
mountboard
Mountcastle
mountdown
mounter
mount St. George
mount the high horse
mount up
outmount
Outremount
overmount
premount
remount
Related terms: amount
mountain
paramount
surmount