mound

UK: /ˈmaʊnd/ US: /maʊnd/ ,(mound)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

mound¹ /maʊnd/   n. [countable]

1. an elevation of earth:
   Native Americans raised special burial mounds in southern Illinois.
2. a heap or raised mass:
   two mounds of mashed potatoes.
3. Sport the slightly raised ground from which a baseball pitcher delivers the ball.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

mound¹  (mound), n. 

1. a natural elevation of earth;
   a hillock or knoll.
2. an artificial elevation of earth, as for a defense work or a dam or barrier;
   an embankment.
3. a heap or raised mass:
   a mound of papers; a mound of hay.
4. Sport [Baseball.] the slightly raised ground from which the pitcher delivers the ball. Cf. rubber (def. 13).
5. an elevation formed of earth, sand, stones, etc., esp. over a grave or ruins.
6. Archaeology a tumulus or other raised work of earth dating from a prehistoric or long-past period.

v.t. 

7. to form into a mound;
   heap up.
8. to furnish with a mound of earth, as for a defense.

• 1505–15; earlier: hedge or fence used as a boundary or protection, (verb, verbal) to enclose with a fence; compare Old English mund hand, hence protection, protector; cognate with Old Norse mund, Middle Dutch mond protection

mound²  (mound), n. 

1. British Terms a globe topped with a cross that symbolizes power and constitutes part of the regalia of an English sovereign.

• Latin mundus world
• Old French monde
• Middle English: world 1250–1300

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

mound / maʊnd/ noun

1. a raised mass of earth, debris, etc
2. any heap or pile: a mound of washing
3. a small natural hill
4. another word for barrow2
5. an artificial ridge of earth, stone, etc, as used for defence

verb

1. (often followed by up) to gather into a mound; heap
2. (transitive) to cover or surround with a mound: to mound a grave

Etymology: 16th Century: earthwork, perhaps from Old English mund hand, hence defence: compare Middle Dutch mond protection

mound / maʊnd/ noun

1. a rare word for orb1

Etymology: 13th Century (meaning: world, C16: orb): from French monde, from Latin mundus world