dismount (v.)
1540s, "to remove or throw down cannons from their mountings," from dis- + mount (v.). Meaning "get off from a horse or other ridden animal" is from 1580s; transitive sense of "throw or bring down from a horse" is from 1610s. Meaning "remove (a gem, picture, etc.) from a frame, setting, or other mount" is by 1879. Related: Dismounted; dismounting.
Entries linking to dismount
word-forming element of Latin origin meaning 1. "lack of, not" (as in dishonest); 2. "opposite of, do the opposite of" (as in disallow); 3. "apart, away" (as in discard), from Old French des- or directly from Latin dis- "apart, asunder, in a different direction, between," figuratively "not, un-," also "exceedingly, utterly." Assimilated as dif- before -f- and to di- before most voiced consonants.
The Latin prefix is from PIE *dis- "apart, asunder" (source also of Old English te-, Old Saxon ti-, Old High German ze-, German zer-). The PIE root is a secondary form of *dwis- and thus is related to Latin bis "twice" (originally *dvis) and to duo, on notion of "two ways, in twain" (hence "apart, asunder").
In classical Latin, dis- paralleled de- and had much the same meaning, but in Late Latin dis- came to be the favored form and this passed into Old French as des-, the form used for compound words formed in Old French, where it increasingly had a privative sense ("not"). In English, many of these words eventually were altered back to dis-, while in French many have been altered back to de-. The usual confusion prevails.
As a living prefix in English, it reverses or negatives what it is affixed to. Sometimes, as in Italian, it is reduced to s- (as in spend, splay, sport, sdain for disdain, and the surnames Spencer and Spence).
c. 1300, mounten, "to get up on a horse;" mid-14c., "to rise up, rise in amount, ascend; fly," from Old French monter "to go up, ascend, climb, mount," from Vulgar Latin *montare, from Latin mons (genitive montis) "mountain" (from PIE root *men- (2) "to project"). The transitive meaning "to set or place in position" first recorded 1530s. Sense of "to get up on for purposes of copulation" is from 1590s. Meaning "prepare for presentation or exhibition" is by 1712. Military meaning "set up or post for defense" is by 1706; to mount an attack is by 1943. Related: Mounted; mounting.
Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to project."
It forms all or part of: amenable; amount; cismontane; demeanor; dismount; eminence; eminent; imminence; imminent; menace; minacious; minatory; mons; montage; montagnard; monte; mount (n.1) "hill, mountain;" mount (v.) "to get up on;" mountain; mountebank; mouth; Osmond; Piedmont; promenade; prominence; prominent; promontory; remount; surmount; ultramontane.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit manya "nape of the neck;" Latin mons "mountain," eminere "to stand out;" Old Irish muin "neck," Welsh mwnwgl "neck," mwng "mane;" Welsh mynydd "mountain."
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updated on August 30, 2018
Dictionary entries near dismount
dismember
dismemberment
dismiss
dismissal
dismissive
dismount
Disney
Disneyland
disobedience
disobedient
disobey