Mounds

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cluster of elevated topographical features made of earth or similar materials that can be found in various terrains
2. Heaps or accumulations of soil, stones, or other loose material ; naturally occurring rounded rises of land in a landscape
3. Large, raised piles formed by humans or animals from dirt or other substances ; smooth, curved hills shaped by geological forces

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "mounds" is that the "mound" in a hillside and the "mound" meaning a guardian's protection were once the same word. Old English "mund" meant "hand, hand of protection, protector, guardianship," and that sense of protection carried over into Middle English as a term for a boundary or a raised earthen rampart. Only later did it take on the sense of a hedge or fence, and then the broader idea of a heap of earth or stones. The word's roots reach back to a Germanic word for "hand," which also gave Old Norse "mund" (hand), German "Vormund" (guardian), and Middle Dutch "mond" (protection). Possibly, too, it connects with Latin "manus" (hand), though that link is less certain. The modern sense of rounded rises in a landscape grew out of the earlier idea of a raised earthen barrier, a physical protection that people built up from the ground. "Mounds" is simply the plural of "mound." It is not related to "mount," despite the similar spelling.

Synonyms: hills, piles, heaps, knolls, barrows

Antonyms: valleys, depressions, dips, lowlands, basins