mount

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). Doublet of mons.

noun

1. A hill or 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.
4. (obsolete) A bank; a fund.
5. (heraldry) A green hillock in the base of a shield.

Etymology 2

From Middle English mounten, from Anglo-Norman munter, from Vulgar Latin *montāre (“climb”), from Latin montem (“mountain”). Compare modern French monter.

noun

1. An animal, usually a horse, used to ride on (unlike a draught horse).
   The rider climbed onto his mount.
2. (now only figurative) A car, bicycle, or motorcycle used for racing.
3. A mounting; an object on which another object is mounted.
   The post is the mount on which the mailbox is installed.
4. (obsolete) A rider in a cavalry unit or division.
   The General said he has 2,000 mounts.
5. A step or block to assist in mounting a horse.
6. A signal for mounting a horse.
7. (martial arts) A dominant ground grappling position, where one combatant sits on the other combatants torso with the face pointing towards the opponent's head.

verb

1. (transitive) To get upon; to ascend; to climb.
   to mount stairs
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.
   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. (transitive, martial arts) To sit on a combatants torso with the face pointing towards the opponent's head; to assume the mount position in ground grappling.
6. (intransitive, rare) To rise on high; to go up; to be upraised or uplifted; to tower aloft; to ascend; often with up.
   The fire of trees and houses mounts on high. 1656, Abraham Cowley, Davideis
7. (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
8. (transitive, computing) To attach (a drive or device) to the file system in order to make it available to the operating system.
   Burn the contents of the staging area onto a writable CD-ROM, carry it over to the Web server, and mount it. 1998, Lincoln D. Stein, Web Security: A Step-by-step Reference Guide, page 377
9. (intransitive, sometimes with up) To increase in quantity or intensity.
   The bills mounted up and the business failed.  There is mounting tension in Crimea.
10. (obsolete) To attain in value; to amount (to).
11. (transitive) To get on top of (another) for the purpose of copulation.
    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?" 1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 16
12. (transitive) To have sexual intercourse with someone.
13. (transitive) To begin (a campaign, military assault, etc.); to launch.
    The General gave the order to mount the attack.
    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. May 5, 2012, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport
    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. 2023-08-07, Clive Cookson, “Missing ice and bleached coral: the sudden warming of the oceans”, in Financial Times
14. (transitive, archaic) To deploy (cannon) for use.
    to mount a cannon
15. (transitive) To prepare and arrange the scenery, furniture, etc. for use in (a play or production).
16. (cooking) To incorporate fat, especially butter, into (a dish, especially a sauce to finish it).
    Mount the sauce with one tablespoon of butter.