1847. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, viii. One is bound to speak the truth as far as one knows it, whether one mounts a cap and bells or a shovel-hat.
2. (theatrical).—To prepare for representation on the stage.
1880. Athenæum, 6 March, p. 322. As regards mounting and general decorations the revival is superior to any previous performance of As You Like It.
3. (old).—To swear falsely; to give false evidence: for money.
1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 159, s.v.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v. Mount, to swear, or give evidence falsely for the sake of a gratuity. To mount for a person is also synonymous with bonnetting for him.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mount. To give false testimony.
4. (venery).—To copulate. For synonyms see Greens and Ride.
1593. Shakspeare, Venus and Adonis. Her champion mounted for the hot encounter. . . . He will not manage her although he mount her.
1620. Middleton, Chaste Maid, v. 4. A woman may be honest according to the English print, when she's a whore in the Latin; so much for marriage and logic: I'll love her for her wit. I'll pick out my runts there; and for my mountains, I'll mount—[So in original, but the play on words is clear].
1629. Jonson, The New Inn [Cunningham, ii. 344], i. 1. Instead of backing the brave steed o' mornings, My copy has, to mount the chambermaid.
1662. Rump Songs, i. p. 358. He caught a Foal and mounted her (O base!) below the crupper.
1668. Etherege, She Would if She Could, iii. 2. How she'd curvet and frisk, If a man were once mounted upon her.
1715. Pennecuik, Poems (1815), p. 363. To see old Cuff upon young Helen mounted.
1847. Halliwell, Arch. & Prov. Words, s.v. Mount. Futuo.
To mount the ass, verb. phr. (old).—To go bankrupt. [In France it was customary to a bankrupt on an ass, face to tail, and ride him through the streets].
Mountain-dew, subs. (common).—Scotch
whiskey. [From the secret
hill-side stills]. For synonyms
see Drinks and Old man's milk.
1821. Edinburgh Evening Courant, 22 Jan. Bread, cheese, and mountain-dew were liberally provided.
1841. Lever, Charles O'Malley, xxviii. Nor quit the land where whiskey grew, To wear King George's button, Take vinegar for mountain dew, And toads for mountain mutton.
Mountain-pecker, subs. (common).—A
sheep's head. See
Jemmy.
Mounter, subs. (old).—See quot.
1859.
1781. G. Parker, View of Society, 11. 23, s.v.
1819. Vaux, Memoirs, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Mount. . . . Mounter. Men who give false bail; or who, for a consideration, will swear to anything required. Fellows who hire clothes to wear for a particular occasion; those who wear second-hand clothes.
Mount-faulcon, subs. (venery).—See
quot. 1850. For synonyms
see Monosyllable.
1593. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v.
1850. Halliwell, Archaic and Provincial Words, s.v. Mountfalcon. The female pudendum. Apparently from the Italian. It occurs in Florio and is still in use.
Mount of Venus, subs. phr.
(venery).—The mons veneris;
the motte (q.v.).
1750. Struan, Poems, 'Horace,' iii. 13. By this lov'd spot*, I'd live and die with thee. [* Note. Clapping her hand on the mount of Venus].
