mound

¹ American  

[mound] / maʊnd /

noun

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. Baseball. the slightly raised ground from which the pitcher delivers the ball.

5. an elevation formed of earth, sand, stones, etc., especially over a grave or ruins.

6. a tumulus or other raised work of earth dating from a prehistoric or long-past period.

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verb (used with object)

mounds, present (3rd person singular) mounded, past participle, past mounding present participle

1. to form into a mound; heap up.

2. to furnish with a mound of earth, as for a defense.

mound ² American  

[mound] / maʊnd /

noun

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

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mound ¹ British  

/ 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. archaeol another word for barrow 2

5. an artificial ridge of earth, stone, etc, as used for defence

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verb

1. (often foll by up) to gather into a mound; heap

2. (tr) to cover or surround with a mound

   to mound a grave

mound ² British  

/ maʊnd /

noun

1. heraldry a rare word for orb

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unmounded
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• mounding
  present
• mounded
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mound
  simple
• mounds
  simple
• have mounded
  perfect
• has mounded
  perfect
• am mounding
  progressive
• are mounding
  progressive
• is mounding
  progressive
• have been mounding
  perfect progressive
• has been mounding
  perfect progressive

Past

• mounded
  simple
• had mounded
  perfect
• was mounding
  progressive
• were mounding
  progressive
• had been mounding
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mound
  simple
• will have mounded
  perfect
• will be mounding
  progressive
• will have been mounding
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mound¹

First recorded in 1505–15; of obscure origin; noun “hedge or fence used as a boundary or protection,” verb “to enclose with a fence”; compare Old English mund “hand,” hence “protection, protector”; cognate with Old Norse mund “hand,” Middle Dutch mond “protection”

Origin of mound²

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English mounde, mundie, from Old French monde, munde, from Latin mundus “world”

Explanation

A mound is a heap or a pile of material or objects. You can make a mound of clothes by dumping your laundry onto your bed. The noun mound is occasionally used to mean "a hill," but it most often describes a manmade pile, like a mound of stones or a mound of sand heaped on the beach, or a mound of snow that you sculpt into a rabbit. On a baseball diamond, the pitcher's mound is the little rise on which the pitcher stands to throw the ball. As a verb, mound means to pile something into a heaped shape.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mound mounds mounded mounding

Ohtani hasn’t pitched in a game since July 3, and he hasn’t thrown off a mound in a little over a week.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026

It’s also unclear what version of Ohtani the Dodgers will get when he returns to the mound.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026

But it remains unclear when Ohtani will return to the mound, and though manager Dave Roberts remains optimistic about him pitching again this season, concerns about building back up start to factor in.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

Workers hauled 150 truckloads of the soil 2 miles away, to East Potomac Golf Links, where it currently sits in a large mound on one of the site’s nine-hole courses.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

The cave opening vanished and the mound flattened again.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

Thanks to four years as vice president and two presidential bids, her name identification is universal, and she has demonstrated the ability to raise mounds of money.

From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2026

Large chunks of cracked sidewalk form mounds, one after another.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2026

Jo Golley from Keep Wales Tidy said there were "horrific" scenes, including mounds of rubbish at Barry Island and Porthcawl beaches during the heatwave this week.

From BBC ● May 29, 2026

Chowdhury said earth mounds have been built to provide refuge for tigers and other animals during highwater.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

‘It came out of the mounds that lie on the borders of my country,’ said Pippin.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

In addition to identifying forts similar to the walled fortresses Poidebard found, the team identified forts with interior architecture features and ones built around a mounded citadel.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2023

In the distance, a Boswell crew with earth-movers was building a levee, a rising barrier of mounded dirt.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

Goguryeo’s elites also learned from the Chinese the art of adorning their large, mounded tombs with colorful murals depicting the lives of royals surrounded by dancers, servants, and enslaved people.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Soil mounded atop the tunnels now hosts a 100-acre prairie landscape.

From New York Times ● Sep. 8, 2022

The food was good, and it came mounded on steaming plates, more than any one person could eat.

From "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

Taste and season with salt and pepper, then transfer to a platter, mounding it to one side.

From Washington Times ● Jun. 14, 2023

But radar satellites that measure ocean height can also find them, by looking for subtle signs of seawater mounding above a hidden seamount, tugged by its gravity.

From Science Magazine ● Apr. 18, 2023

Corcoran is protected to the south by a long, mounding levee that stands 188 feet tall.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2023

Both heathers have a mounding habit and grow 2-by-2 feet.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 31, 2022

They gathered the silver to them, mounding it around, piling it high.

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi