Adjacent Words

Mountain definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MOUNT'AIN, n. [L. adjective, montanus.] A large mass of earth and rock, rising above the common level of the earth or adjacent land, but of no definite altitude. We apply mountain to the largest eminences on the globe; but sometimes the word is used for a large hill. In general, mountain denotes an elevation higher and larger than a hill; as the Altaic mountains in Asia, the Alps in Switzerland, the Andes in South America,the Allegheny mountains in Virginia, the Catskill in New York, the White mountains in New Hampshire, and the Green mountains in Vermont. The word is applied to a single elevation, or to an extended range.
MOUNT'AIN, a. Pertaining to a mountain; found on mountains; growing or dwelling on a mountain; as mountain air; mountain pines; mountain goats.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a land mass that projects well above its surroundings; higher than a hill [syn: mountain, mount]
2: (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent; "a batch of letters"; "a deal of trouble"; "a lot of money"; "he made a mint on the stock market"; "see the rest of the winners in our huge passel of photos"; "it must have cost plenty"; "a slew of journalists"; "a wad of money" [syn: batch, deal, flock, good deal, great deal, hatful, heap, lot, mass, mess, mickle, mint, mountain, muckle, passel, peck, pile, plenty, pot, quite a little, raft, sight, slew, spate, stack, tidy sum, wad]

Merriam Webster's

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French muntaine, from Vulgar Latin *montanea, from feminine of *montaneus of a mountain, alteration of Latin montanus, from mont-, mons Date: 13th century 1. a. a landmass that projects conspicuously above its surroundings and is higher than a hill b. an elongated ridge 2. a. a great mass b. a vast number or quantity

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a large natural elevation of the earth's surface rising abruptly from the surrounding level; a large or high and steep hill. 2 a large heap or pile; a huge quantity (a mountain of work). 3 a large surplus stock of a commodity (butter mountain). Phrases and idioms: make a mountain out of a molehill see MOLEHILL. mountain ash 1 a tree, Sorbus aucuparia, with delicate pinnate leaves and scarlet berries: also called ROWAN. 2 any of several Australian eucalypts. mountain chain a connected series of mountains. mountain goat a white goatlike animal, Oreamnos americanus, of the Rocky Mountains etc. mountain laurel a N. American shrub, Kalmia latifolia. mountain lion a puma. mountain panther = OUNCE(2). mountain range a line of mountains connected by high ground. mountain sickness a sickness caused by the rarefaction of the air at great heights. Mountain Time US the standard time of parts of Canada and the US in or near the Rocky Mountains. move mountains 1 achieve spectacular results. 2 make every possible effort. Derivatives: mountainy adj. Etymology: ME f. OF montaigne ult. f. L (as MOUNT(2))

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mountain Moun"tain, n. [OE. mountaine, montaine, F. montagne, LL. montanea, montania, fr. L. mons, montis, a mountain; cf. montanus belonging to a mountain. See 1st Mount.] 1. A large mass of earth and rock, rising above the common level of the earth or adjacent land; earth and rock forming an isolated peak or a ridge; an eminence higher than a hill; a mount. 2. pl. A range, chain, or group of such elevations; as, the White Mountains. 3. A mountainlike mass; something of great bulk. I should have been a mountain of mummy. --Shak. The Mountain (--La montagne) (French Hist.), a popular name given in 1793 to a party of extreme Jacobins in the National Convention, who occupied the highest rows of seats.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mountain Moun"tain, a. 1. Of or pertaining to a mountain or mountains; growing or living on a mountain; found on or peculiar to mountains; among mountains; as, a mountain torrent; mountain pines; mountain goats; mountain air; mountain howitzer. 2. Like a mountain; mountainous; vast; very great. The high, the mountain majesty of worth. --Byron. Mountain antelope (Zo["o]l.), the goral. Mountain ash (Bot.), an ornamental tree, the Pyrus (Sorbus) Americana, producing beautiful bunches of red berries. Its leaves are pinnate, and its flowers white, growing in fragrant clusters. The European species is the P. aucuparia, or rowan tree. Mountain barometer, a portable barometer, adapted for safe transportation, used in measuring the heights of mountains. Mountain beaver (Zo["o]l.), the sewellel. Mountain blue (Min.), blue carbonate of copper; azurite. Mountain cat (Zo["o]l.), the catamount. See Catamount. Mountain chain, a series of contiguous mountain ranges, generally in parallel or consecutive lines or curves. Mountain cock (Zo["o]l.), capercailzie. See Capercailzie. Mountain cork (Min.), a variety of asbestus, resembling cork in its texture. Mountain crystal. See under Crystal. Mountain damson (Bot.), a large tree of the genus Simaruba (S. amarga) growing in the West Indies, which affords a bitter tonic and astringent, sometimes used in medicine. Mountain dew, Scotch whisky, so called because often illicitly distilled among the mountains. [Humorous] Mountain ebony (Bot.), a small leguminous tree (Bauhinia variegata) of the East and West Indies; -- so called because of its dark wood. The bark is used medicinally and in tanning. Mountain flax (Min.), a variety of asbestus, having very fine fibers; amianthus. See Amianthus. Mountain fringe (Bot.), climbing fumitory. See under Fumitory. Mountain goat. (Zo["o]l.) See Mazama. Mountain green. (Min.) (a) Green malachite, or carbonate of copper. (b) See Green earth, under Green, a. Mountain holly (Bot.), a branching shrub (Nemopanthes Canadensis), having smooth oblong leaves and red berries. It is found in the Northern United States. Mountain laurel (Bot.), an American shrub (Kalmia latifolia) with glossy evergreen leaves and showy clusters of rose-colored or white flowers. The foliage is poisonous. Called also American laurel, ivy bush, and calico bush. See Kalmia. Mountain leather (Min.), a variety of asbestus, resembling leather in its texture. Mountain licorice (Bot.), a plant of the genus Trifolium (T. Alpinum). Mountain limestone (Geol.), a series of marine limestone strata below the coal measures, and above the old red standstone of Great Britain. See Chart of Geology. Mountain linnet (Zo["o]l.), the twite. Mountain magpie. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The yaffle, or green woodpecker. (b) The European gray shrike. Mountain mahogany (Bot.) See under Mahogany. Mountain meal (Min.), a light powdery variety of calcite, occurring as an efflorescence. Mountain milk (Min.), a soft spongy variety of carbonate of lime. Mountain mint. (Bot.) See Mint. Mountain ousel (Zo["o]l.), the ring ousel; -- called also mountain thrush and mountain colley. See Ousel. Mountain pride, or Mountain green (Bot.), a tree of Jamaica (Spathelia simplex), which has an unbranched palmlike stem, and a terminal cluster of large, pinnate leaves. Mountain quail (Zo["o]l.), the plumed partridge (Oreortyx pictus) of California. It has two long, slender, plumelike feathers on the head. The throat and sides are chestnut; the belly is brown with transverse bars of black and white; the neck and breast are dark gray. Mountain range, a series of mountains closely related in position and direction. Mountain rice. (Bot.) (a) An upland variety of rice, grown without irrigation, in some parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States. (b) An American genus of grasses (Oryzopsis). Mountain rose (Bot.), a species of rose with solitary flowers, growing in the mountains of Europe (Rosa alpina). Mountain soap (Min.), a soft earthy mineral, of a brownish color, used in crayon painting; saxonite. Mountain sorrel (Bot.), a low perennial plant (Oxyria digyna with rounded kidney-form leaves, and small greenish flowers, found in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and in high northern latitudes. --Gray. Mountain sparrow (Zo["o]l.), the European tree sparrow. Mountain spinach. (Bot.) See Orach. Mountain tobacco (Bot.), a composite plant (Arnica montana) of Europe; called also leopard's bane. Mountain witch (Zo["o]l.), a ground pigeon of Jamaica, of the genus Geotrygon.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Gun Gun, n. [OE. gonne, gunne; of uncertain origin; cf. Ir., Gael.) A LL. gunna, W. gum; possibly (like cannon) fr. L. canna reed, tube; or abbreviated fr. OF. mangonnel, E. mangonel, a machine for hurling stones.] 1. A weapon which throws or propels a missile to a distance; any firearm or instrument for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder, consisting of a tube or barrel closed at one end, in which the projectile is placed, with an explosive charge behind, which is ignited by various means. Muskets, rifles, carbines, and fowling pieces are smaller guns, for hand use, and are called small arms. Larger guns are called cannon, ordnance, fieldpieces, carronades, howitzers, etc. See these terms in the Vocabulary. As swift as a pellet out of a gunne When fire is in the powder runne. --Chaucer. The word gun was in use in England for an engine to cast a thing from a man long before there was any gunpowder found out. --Selden. 2. (Mil.) A piece of heavy ordnance; in a restricted sense, a cannon. 3. pl. (Naut.) Violent blasts of wind. Note: Guns are classified, according to their construction or manner of loading as rifled or smoothbore, breech-loading or muzzle-loading, cast or built-up guns; or according to their use, as field, mountain, prairie, seacoast, and siege guns. Armstrong gun, a wrought iron breech-loading cannon named after its English inventor, Sir William Armstrong. Great gun, a piece of heavy ordnance; hence (Fig.), a person superior in any way. Gun barrel, the barrel or tube of a gun. Gun carriage, the carriage on which a gun is mounted or moved. Gun cotton (Chem.), a general name for a series of explosive nitric ethers of cellulose, obtained by steeping cotton in nitric and sulphuric acids. Although there are formed substances containing nitric acid radicals, yet the results exactly resemble ordinary cotton in appearance. It burns without ash, with explosion if confined, but quietly and harmlessly if free and open, and in small quantity. Specifically, the lower nitrates of cellulose which are insoluble in ether and alcohol in distinction from the highest (pyroxylin) which is soluble. See Pyroxylin, and cf. Xyloidin. The gun cottons are used for blasting and somewhat in gunnery: for making celluloid when compounded with camphor; and the soluble variety (pyroxylin) for making collodion. See Celluloid, and Collodion. Gun cotton is frequenty but improperly called nitrocellulose. It is not a nitro compound, but an ethereal salt of nitric acid. Gun deck. See under Deck. Gun fire, the time at which the morning or the evening gun is fired. Gun metal, a bronze, ordinarily composed of nine parts of copper and one of tin, used for cannon, etc. The name is also given to certain strong mixtures of cast iron. Gun port (Naut.), an opening in a ship through which a cannon's muzzle is run out for firing. Gun tackle (Naut.), the blocks and pulleys affixed to the side of a ship, by which a gun carriage is run to and from the gun port. Gun tackle purchase (Naut.), a tackle composed of two single blocks and a fall. --Totten. Krupp gun, a wrought steel breech-loading cannon, named after its German inventor, Herr Krupp. Machine gun, a breech-loading gun or a group of such guns, mounted on a carriage or other holder, and having a reservoir containing cartridges which are loaded into the gun or guns and fired in rapid succession, sometimes in volleys, by machinery operated by turning a crank. Several hundred shots can be fired in a minute with accurate aim. The Gatling gun, Gardner gun, Hotchkiss gun, and Nordenfelt gun, named for their inventors, and the French mitrailleuse, are machine guns. To blow great guns (Naut.), to blow a gale. See Gun, n., 3.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mountains) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A mountain is a very high area of land with steep sides. Ben Nevis, in Scotland, is Britain's highest mountain. N-COUNT 2. If you talk about a mountain of something, or mountains of something, you are emphasizing that there is a large amount of it. (INFORMAL) They are faced with a mountain of bureaucracy... QUANT: QUANT of pl-n/n-uncount [emphasis] 3. If you say that someone has a mountain to climb, you mean that it will be difficult for them to achieve what they want to achieve. (JOURNALISM) 'We had a mountain to climb after the second goal went in,' said Crosby. PHRASE: usu v PHR 4. to make a mountain out of a molehill: see molehill

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Mount, high hill, vast eminence.

Moby Thesaurus

Everest, Olympus, abundance, accumulation, acres, alp, bags, bald, bank, bar, barrel, barrels, bilge, blain, bleb, blister, blob, bluff, boss, bow, bubble, bulb, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, burl, bushel, butte, button, cahot, chine, clump, condyle, convex, copiousness, countlessness, dome, dowel, drift, ear, elevation, eminence, fell, flange, flap, flood, gall, gnarl, great deal, handle, heap, heaps, height, hill, hump, hunch, impediment, jog, joggle, knob, knot, knur, knurl, lip, load, lofty mountains, loop, lot, lump, mass, mesa, mole, mound, mount, much, multitude, nevus, nub, nubbin, nubble, numerousness, obstruction, ocean, oceans, papilloma, peak, peck, peg, pile, piles, plenitude, plenty, profusion, prominence, pyramid, quantities, quantity, rib, ridge, ring, rub, sea, shock, shoulder, sierra, sight, snag, spate, spine, stack, stacks, stud, stumbling block, style, summit, superabundance, superfluity, tab, the wooded mountains, tons, tor, towering alps, tubercle, tubercule, verruca, vesicle, volcano, volume, wale, wart, welt, world, worlds