mound

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See also: Mound

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From earlier meaning "hedge, fence", from Middle English mound, mund (“protection, boundary, raised earthen rampart”), from Old English mund (“hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship”), from Proto-Germanic *mundō (“hand”), *munduz (“protection, patron”), from Proto-Indo-European *mh₂-nt-éh₂ (“the beckoning one”), from *(s)meh₂- (“to beckon”).

Cognate with Old Frisian mund (“guardianship”), Old High German munt (“hand, protection”) (German Mündel (“ward”), Vormund (“a guardian”)), Old Norse mund (“hand”) (Icelandic mund), Middle Dutch mond (“protection”), and possibly Latin manus (“hand”), Ancient Greek μάρη (márē, “hand”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /maʊnd/
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊnd

Noun[edit]

Mounds of salt

mound (plural mounds)

  1. An artificial hill or elevation of earth; a raised bank; an embankment thrown up for defense
    Synonyms: bulwark, rampart
  2. A natural elevation appearing as if thrown up artificially; a regular and isolated hill, hillock, or knoll.
  3. (baseball) Elevated area of dirt upon which the pitcher stands to pitch.
    The pitcher was waiting at the mound.
  4. A ball or globe forming part of the regalia of an emperor or other sovereign. It is encircled with bands, enriched with precious stones, and surmounted with a cross.
  5. (US, vulgar, slang) The mons veneris.
  6. (obsolete, anatomy, measurement, figuratively) A hand.
  7. (obsolete) A protection; restraint; curb.
  8. (obsolete) A helmet.
  9. (obsolete) Might; size.

Synonyms[edit]

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Translations[edit]

vulva — see vulva

Verb[edit]

mound (third-person singular simple present mounds, present participle mounding, simple past and past participle mounded)

  1. (transitive) To fortify with a mound; add a barrier, rampart, etc. to.
  2. (transitive) To force or pile into a mound or mounds.
    He mounded up his mashed potatoes so they left more space on the plate for the meat.
  3. (intransitive) To form a mound.
    • 2011, Rick Hansen, Leadership and The Art of Surfing, page xi:
      When a wave mounds on the outside and takes its shape, a surfer quickly paddles to the peak, positions himself in its evolving momentum, swings his board around, aligns with the peak, and thrusts himself into its cascading shape.

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Middle English[edit]

Noun[edit]

mound

  1. Alternative form of mund
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