mound

¹ American  

[maund] / 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  

[maund] / 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

Smith and pitching coach Mark Prior came out for separate mound visits.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

In 2024, the Tigers were five innings from the American League Championship Series, leading 1-0 in the deciding game of the division series, with Skubal on the mound.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

On the mound, Tyler Glasnow, who will be the Dodgers’ fourth starter in the postseason, was perfect through three innings.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

MLB teams are using position players on the mound more than ever before, transforming what was once a novelty into a common—and controversial—strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Khala Nilufer piled a mound of qabuli pulau—rice and lamb—onto Fadi’s plate.

From "Shooting Kabul" by N. H. Senzai

And it is true that what last month was just bushland and rough grazing ground near the village is now scarred by pits, mounds of earth and makeshift mining camps.

From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026

At a gleaming new factory in China's central hinterland, masked workers in white uniform season and sift through mounds of latiao, a longtime popular snack that has found hungry fans overseas.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

“Most district schools would not have mounds this high,” she says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

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

They scooped mounds of rice and cauliflower onto plates and Omer asked questions through Poppy.

From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye

In the past, they had mounded earth on top of existing graves to create new burial sites, or narrowed existing paths to create more cremation spots.

From New York Times ● Jan. 19, 2024

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

These kings commanded large armies, drawing legitimacy from their military prowess and creating mounded tombs that required vast resources and labor.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Having mounded them up, I shuffled through them, discarding some upon the floor.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

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

A mounding shrub with a modest suckering habit, the plant produces deliciously fragrant pink or white blooms in summer against pristine foliage, followed by a showy crop of bright red hips in fall.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 27, 2022

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

From "Ship Breaker" by Paolo Bacigalupi