mountain

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: 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; a large quantity.

I should have been a mountain of mummy.— William Shakespeare

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.

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.— George Noel Gordon, Ld. Byron

Mountain antelope Zoology, the goral. — Mountain ash Botany, an ornamental tree, the Pyrus Americana (or 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 Pyrus aucuparia, or rowan tree. — Mountain barometer, a portable barometer, adapted for safe transportation, used in measuring the heights of mountains. — Mountain beaver Zoology, the sewellel. — Mountain blue Mineralogy, blue carbonate of copper; azurite. — Mountain cat Zoology, the catamount. See Catamount. — Mountain chain, a series of contiguous mountain ranges, generally in parallel or consecutive lines or curves. — Mountain cock Zoology, capercailzie. See Capercailzie. — Mountain cork Mineralogy, a variety of asbestus, resembling cork in its texture. — Mountain crystal. See under Crystal. — Mountain damson Botany, a large tree of the genus Simaruba (Simaruba 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 Botany, 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 Mineralogy, a variety of asbestus, having very fine fibers; amianthus. See Amianthus. — Mountain fringe Botany, climbing fumitory. See under Fumitory. — Mountain goat. Zoology See Mazama. — Mountain green. Mineralogy (a) Green malachite, or carbonate of copper. (b) See Green earth, under Green, adjective — Mountain holly Botany, a branching shrub (Nemopanthes Canadensis), having smooth oblong leaves and red berries. It is found in the Northern United States. — Mountain laurel Botany, 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 Mineralogy, a variety of asbestus, resembling leather in its texture. — Mountain licorice Botany, a plant of the genus Trifolium (Trifolium Alpinum). — Mountain limestone Geology, 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 Zoology, the twite. — Mountain magpie. Zoology (a) The yaffle, or green woodpecker. (b) The European gray shrike. — Mountain mahogany Botany See under Mahogany. — Mountain meal Mineralogy, a light powdery variety of calcite, occurring as an efflorescence. — Mountain milk Mineralogy, a soft spongy variety of carbonate of lime. — Mountain mint. Botany See Mint. — Mountain ousel Zoology, the ring ousel; — called also mountain thrush and mountain colley. See Ousel. — Mountain pride, or Mountain green Botany, a tree of Jamaica (Spathelia simplex), which has an unbranched palmlike stem, and a terminal cluster of large, pinnate leaves. — Mountain quail Zoology, 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. Botany (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 Botany, a species of rose with solitary flowers, growing in the mountains of Europe (Rosa alpina). — Mountain soap Mineralogy, a soft earthy mineral, of a brownish color, used in crayon painting; saxonite. — Mountain sorrel Botany, 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. Asa Gray — Mountain sparrow Zoology, the European tree sparrow. — Mountain spinach. Botany See Orach. — Mountain tobacco Botany, a composite plant (Arnica montana) of Europe; called also leopard's bane. — Mountain witch Zoology, a ground pigeon of Jamaica, of the genus Geotrygon.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54