mort

(redirected from morts)
Also found in: Acronyms, Idioms.

mort 1

 (môrt)
n.
The note sounded on a hunting horn to announce the death of a deer.
[Middle English, death, from Old French, from Latin mors, mort-; see mer- in Indo-European roots.]

mort 2

 (môrt)
n.
A great number or quantity.
[Perhaps from mortal.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mort

(mɔːt)
n
(Hunting) a call blown on a hunting horn to signify the death of the animal hunted
[C16: via Old French from Latin mors death]

mort

(mɔːt)
n
a great deal; a great many
[possibly a shortened form of mortal used as an intensifier]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mort

(mɔrt)

n.
1. a note played on a hunting horn signifying that the animal hunted has been killed.
2. Obs. death.
[1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin mort- (s. of mors) death]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mort

 a great quantity.
Examples: mort of luck, 1821; of merrymaking, 1775; of money, 1887; of prisoners, 1694; of talk, 1850; of wit, 1708.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Mentioned in ?
References in classic literature ?
The MORBLUES, the SANG DIEUS, the MORTS TOUTS LES DIABLES, crossed one another in the air.
View in context
"To the death," cried the little gray man, "a mort, mon fils." Scarcely had the words left his lips ere, as though it had but waited permission, the boy's sword flashed into the heart of Paul of Merely, and a Saxon gentleman was gathered to his fathers.
Both these men were considered excellent swordsmen, but when Beauchamp heard again the little gray man's "a mort, mon fils," he shuddered, and the little hairs at the nape of his neck rose up, and his spine froze, for he knew that he had heard the sentence of death passed upon him; for no mortal had yet lived who could vanquish such a swordsman as he who now faced him.
"They are thy enemies, my son, and to thee belongs the pleasure of revenge; a mort, mon fils."
View in context
It was in old French, and ran somewhat in this way: Or avant, entre nous tous freres Battons nos charognes bien fort En remembrant la grant misere De Dieu et sa piteuse mort Qui fut pris en la gent amere Et vendus et trais a tort Et bastu sa chair, vierge et dere Au nom de ce battons plus fort.
"Mort Dieu!" cried the bowman, "there is a bucketful or more of my blood over in France, but it was all spilled in hot fight, and I should think twice before I drew it drop by drop as these friars are doing.
View in context
The French gentleman and Mr Adderly, at the desire of their commanding officer, had raised up the body of Jones, but as they could perceive but little (if any) sign of life in him, they again let him fall, Adderly damning him for having blooded his wastecoat; and the Frenchman declaring, "Begar, me no tush the Engliseman de mort: me have heard de Englise ley, law, what you call, hang up de man dat tush him last."
View in context
They all asked me questions, and I told them how pap and me and all the family was living on a little farm down at the bottom of Arkansaw, and my sister Mary Ann run off and got married and never was heard of no more, and Bill went to hunt them and he warn't heard of no more, and Tom and Mort died, and then there warn't nobody but just me and pap left, and he was just trimmed down to nothing, on account of his troubles; so when he died I took what there was left, because the farm didn't belong to us, and started up the river, deck passage, and fell overboard; and that was how I come to be here.
View in context
"Fuir la mort," she repeated, meditatively, in her mysterious voice.
View in context
She felt the PETIT MORT at this unexpectedly gruesome information, and left the solitary man behind her.
View in context
Ivanhoe crossed himself, repeating prayers in Saxon, Latin, or Norman-French, as they occurred to his memory, while Richard alternately said, Benedicite, and swore, Mort de ma vie!
View in context
"Silence a` la mort," replied Laurie, with a melodramatic flourish, as he went away.
View in context

Dictionary browser ?
Full browser ?