mount

Less common meanings

8. 8
   get on (horse)verbtransitive

   To place oneself on a horse, bicycle, or similar in order to ride.

   The knight mounted his stallion before the tournament began.

   Riders mount their horses from the left side by tradition.

   UsageThe opposite is dismount; in everyday speech people more often say get on a horse or bike.

   Oppositedismount

9. 9
   verbtransitive

   To go up; to climb something such as stairs or a hill, or to rise into the air.

   The procession mounted the hill toward the cathedral.

   Soldiers mount the ramparts at the first sign of attack.

   Similarclimb, ascend, scale

   Oppositedescend

   Note

   Climbing with a direct object: one mounts stairs, a hill, a throne. Dryden's Virgil of 1697 asks, "shall we mount again the Rural Throne," where climbing the throne means taking power again. The verb sounds more formal than climb or go up. Agatha Christie uses that tone in The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920), when going upstairs becomes "Would I mount? I mounted accordingly." Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • John Dryden's translation of Virgil was first published in 1697. openbook.lib.utah.edu
   • The quoted question occurs in Dryden's Virgil; Meliboeus speaks it, and the following line supports the interpretation of regaining power. en.wikisource.org
   • Agatha Christie wrote The Mysterious Affair at Styles, first published in 1920. en.wikisource.org
   • The quotation is exact; Hastings narrates his going upstairs to visit Poirot. en.wikisource.org
10. 10
    verbtransitive

    To get on top of another animal or person in order to have sex.

    The ram mounted the ewe within minutes of being released.

    Each spring the farmer lets the bull mount the heifers.

    Note

    The farmyard verb: one animal gets on top of another to mate. Used of people, it brings the animal image with it. William Irwin Thompson's The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (1981) makes the point by having Adam try "to mount her after the fashion of the animals." It can describe human intercourse as well. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • William Irwin Thompson wrote The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light. openlibrary.org
    • The book describes Adam trying to mount Lilith and contains the exact quoted wording. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    top position (fight)nouncountable

    A dominant ground-grappling position in which one combatant sits astride the other's torso, facing the opponent's head.

    She secured the mount and rained down punches from above.

    Escaping from the mount is one of the first skills a new grappler learns.

    UsageUsually the mount, with verbs like take, secure or escape.

    Note

    Grappling borrowed the rider's posture: the top fighter sits on the opponent much as a rider sits on a horse. Knees on the mat and weight on the torso give leverage for strikes and submissions, while the matching verb names the act of getting there. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • In the standard mount, the top fighter's knees rest on the mat beside the opponent's torso. bjj.org.il
    • The mount places weight on the opponent's torso and provides advantages for strikes and submissions. grapplearts.com
12. 12
    verbtransitive

    To sit astride a combatant's torso facing the opponent's head, taking the dominant mount position in ground grappling.

    She mounted her opponent seconds after completing the takedown.

    Skilled grapplers mount their rivals to control the fight from the top.

    UsageThe opponent is the direct object: she mounted her opponent, with no on.

13. 13
    gymnastics startnouncountable

    The act of getting onto a piece of gymnastics apparatus to begin a routine.

    The gymnast's mount onto the uneven bars earned high marks from the panel.

    A controlled mount onto the beam helps set the rhythm for the rest of the exercise.

    Oppositedismount

    Note

    Gymnastics names the first element of a routine for the movement it makes: getting onto the beam, the bars or another apparatus. It counts as part of the routine and is judged for difficulty and execution like everything that follows. A mount onto the beam is therefore a skill in its own right, not a preliminary. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • A mount is the opening skill used to get onto an apparatus, such as the beam. georgiadogs.com
    • The mount belongs to the judged routine and is evaluated for difficulty and execution. worldgymnastics.sport
    • A beam mount is itself a skill rather than an unjudged preliminary. gymnastics.sport
14. 14
    put on horsebackverbtransitive

    To put someone on horseback, or to supply someone with animals for riding.

    The estate mounted its guests on fine hunters for the chase.

    Cavalry units mount their soldiers on carefully bred horses.

    Note

    The causative partner of getting on a horse: here the object is the rider, not the animal. To mount troops is to put them on horseback or supply their horses, as in Dryden's Virgil, "to mount the Trojan troop." The phrase is easy to misread as the troops climbing something. The object is always the people who are given horses. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The quotation occurs in John Dryden’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid, describing the provision of horses to the Trojans. gutenberg.org
15. 15
    add butterverbtransitive

    To blend fat, especially butter, into a dish such as a sauce to finish it.

    Cooks mount the reduction with cold butter to give it a silky finish.

    Just before plating, she mounted the sauce with a few cubes of butter.

    UsageYou mount the sauce with butter.

    Note

    A kitchen term that follows French monter, as in monter au beurre: cold butter is whisked into a warm sauce off the heat, and the emulsion gives gloss and body. It is a finishing step, done at the last moment. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • Cold butter is whisked into the sauce. ciachef.edu
    • The butter can be incorporated after removing the sauce from the heat. masterclass.com
    • The resulting emulsion gives the sauce gloss and body. en.wikipedia.org
    • Mounting with butter is a finishing step performed immediately before serving. resources.escoffier.edu
16. 16
    hill on shieldnouncountable

    A green hillock depicted at the base of a heraldic shield.

    The shield showed a stag standing on a grassy mount.

    Heralds placed a green mount at the base to support the central figure.

    Note

    Heraldry draws the hill sense in miniature and sets it in the base, the herald's term for the lowest part of the shield. Its green color is traditional, though mounts can have other colors. Blazon commonly describes it as a mount vert, vert being the heraldic word for green.

17. 17
    nounobsolete

    A cavalryman, one of the horsemen making up a cavalry unit or division.

    Note

    An obsolete military usage in which the count is of riders, not animals. When a general says he has 2,000 mounts, the figure means mounted soldiers. Modern readers will hear horses instead, because the riding animal is the meaning that lasted. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Mount has an obsolete military sense referring to a cavalry rider rather than a horse. en.wiktionary.org
    • In this sense, 2,000 mounts means 2,000 mounted soldiers; the general is a hypothetical example. en.wiktionary.org
18. 18
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To cause something to rise or ascend; to raise, elevate, or lift up.

    What power is it which mounts my love so high?

    c. 1604, William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”

    Note

    An obsolete causative in which the subject lifts something else upward. Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well asks, "What power is it which mounts my love so high?" The love is raised; it does not climb. Today raise or lift carries this meaning, and rising on high is the related use that lingers in literary English. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Mount has an obsolete transitive sense meaning to cause something to rise. en.wiktionary.org
    • William Shakespeare wrote All's Well That Ends Well. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted words occur in the play, spoken by Helen (Helena) in Act 1, scene 1; the excerpt ends before the full question ends. folger.edu
    • Mounts is causative here: an unspecified power raises the speaker's love. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    verbobsolete

    To reach a total value; to amount to.

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

    1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man.

    Note

    An obsolete sense of totaling, now handled by amount to. Alexander Pope's An Essay on Man, Epistle IV (1734), uses it in a reckoning: "Make fair deductions, see to what they mount." Modern readers can take it as amount and lose nothing. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Mount had an obsolete sense meaning to amount to a value. en.wiktionary.org
20. 20
    nounobsolete

    A bulwark or raised mound built for attack or defense.

    ⸿ For thus hath the Lord of hoſtes said ; Hew yee downe trees and ‖ caſt a mount againſt Jeruſalem : this is the citie to be viſited, ſhe is wholly oppreſſion in the midſt of her.

    1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version

    Note

    A siege word that the King James Bible of 1611 still uses: "Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem." The verb is cast, as earth is cast up, and attackers raise such a work as readily as defenders do. Though the meaning overlaps with mound, the words are unrelated, as the hill sense explains. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • The King James Bible was published in 1611. archive.org
    • The King James Bible contains the quoted command concerning Jerusalem. churchofjesuschrist.org
    • Cast a mount refers to heaping up earth for a siege. biblehub.com
    • Mount could denote a mound or bulwark used for attack or defense. en.wiktionary.org
    • Mount and mound overlap in meaning but are etymologically unrelated. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    nounobsolete

    A bank or accumulated fund of money.

    Note

    A money sense that has dropped out of English. In older texts a mount is a bank or fund of money, and a reader meeting it cold can easily mistake it for a hill. Context settles it. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Mount formerly meant a bank or fund of money; this sense is obsolete. en.wiktionary.org
22. 22
    noundated

    A step or block used to help a person get onto a horse.
23. 23
    noun

    Any of seven fleshy pads on the palm of the hand, each thought in palmistry to carry the influence of a heavenly body.
24. 24
    noun

    A signal given to tell riders to get onto their horses.