mountains

Mountains

See also geography; heights; volcanoes.

acrophilia

a love of high mountains and of heights. — acrophile, n.

alpinism

the climbing of the Alps or any equally high mountain ranges. — alpinist, n.

orogenesis

the process of the formation of mountains. Also called orogeny. — orogenic, adj.

orography, oreography

Physical Geography. the study of mountains and mountain systems. — orographic, oreographic, oreographical, orographical, adj.

orology, oreology

the scientific study of mountains. — orologist, oreologist, n. — orological, oreological, adj.

orometry

the measurement of mountains. — orometric, adj.

orophilous

Botany. referring to orophytes, a class of plants growing on mountains below the timberline.

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Mountains 

See Also: LANDSCAPES, NATURE

1. Cropped, long-faced hills that bristled with pine like so many unshaven cheeks —T. Coraghessan Boyle
2. The hills here are long and blue, like paintings —Bobbie Ann Mason
3. Hills like breasts —Karl Shapiro
4. The hillside is dotted with white plum trees like puffs of smoke —Colette
5. Hills … lay there like a herd of drowsing buffalo —Yitzhak Shenhar
6. Hills … like a young girl’s breasts —William Boyd
7. Hills rose up like bubbles —Phyllis Bottome
8. Like an enormous landscape lay the mountain —Delmore Schwartz
9. Mountains … like crouching camels —Milton Raison
10. Mountains like puffs of smoke —George Garrett
11. The mountains rolled like whales through the phosphorous stars —Derek Walcott
12. The mountains rose like worn, dark-skinned fists —Carlos Fuentes
13. Mountains, stretching themselves like great luxurious cats in the sunshine —Hugh Walpole
14. Mountains … unreal like movie props —John Rechy
15. The mountains were jagged like a page ripped out of a book —Kate Grenville
16. The mountains were just visible, dusky and black, like waves of charcoal —John Fowles
17. The mountain tops were whitened by moonlight like crests of waves —Lee Smith
18. The mountain was shining like glass in color —Paul Horgan
19. The scenery is funny little hills shaped like scoops of ice cream —Bobbie Ann Mason
20. The hills are … ribbed like the remains of antediluvian breasts stretched across the horizon —T. Coraghessan Boyle
21. To live in mountains is like living with someone who always talks at the top of his, or it may be her, voice —Leonard Woolf
22. Tree-covered folds in the mountains … lying like a gigantic crumpled velvet rug —John Fowles

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mountains

• massif - A compact group of mountains or a mountain range section; it first meant "building block" and the word massive is derived from that.
• Idaho - Shoshone for "light on mountains."
• orogenesis, orogeny - Orogenesis is the formation of mountains (Greek oros) and orogeny is the process by which mountains are formed.
• ultramontane - Means "beyond the mountains."