ˈmole-hill, molehill
[f. mole n.2]
1. A small mound, or occas. a ridge, of earth thrown up by moles in burrowing near the surface of the ground.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. xxx. (1869) 152 At a molle hille j stumblede and fil doun. 1485–6 in Durham Rolls (Surtees) 98 Pro aspercione lez modhylles. 1492–3 Ibid. 652 Lez moldhillez. 1531 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Paid for castyng a brode of moll hillys. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. lv, Like a sort of busie ants, that crawle About some molehill. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. v, Walking to the top of a fresh Mole-hill, I fell to my Neck in the Hole. 1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 489 The little heaps well known as Mole-hills. 1878 Encycl. Brit. XVI. 609/1 Passages..along which the animal hunts its prey, throwing out the soil in the form of mole-hills. |
2. In allusions to the smallness of a mole-hill; chiefly antithetic with
mountain.
to make a mountain (out) of a mole-hill: to attribute great importance to something (
esp. a difficulty or grievance) which is really insignificant.
| 1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) II. 1361/1 To much amplifying thinges y{supt} be but small, makyng mountaines of Molehils. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 237 margin, To whome you are as much comparable as a mole hill to a mountaine. 1592 Lyly Entert. Wks. 1902 I. 489 Among my ioies, there is one griefe, that my daughter, the Mistris of a Moole hil, hath so much forgotten..duetie. 1594 Battle of Alcazar ii. ii. King of a mole-hill had I rather be, Than the richest subiect of a monarchie. 1609 Shakes. Cor. v. iii. 30. 1631 Celestina 282 Thou promisest mountaines, but performest Mole⁓hils. a 1680 Charnock Mercy for Chief Sinners Wks. (1846) 58 Can mole-hills stand against him who has levelled mountains? 1778 T. Hutchinson Diary 5 May, I told him his nerves were affected: every mole-hill was a mountain. 1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter (ed. 2) 53 [This is] like making mountains out of molehills. |
| attrib. 1679 Dryden & Lee Œdipus iv. i, Each mole-hill thought swells to a huge Olympus. 1802–12 Bentham Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827) V. 738 Of the mountain of their nonsense the magnitude may be measured by the molehill dimensions of..their..sense. |
3. A small eruption or excrescence.
nonce-use.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 157 Whose heaving phantsies fill their Faces full of such artificial Mole-hils. |
Hence (
nonce-wds.)
ˈmolehillish a., like a mole-hill:
ˈmole-hilly a., abounding in mole-hills.
| 1830 Blackw. Mag. XXVIII. 888 Obstacles..we smile at the idea of surmounting, so molehillish do they kythe. 1835 Clare Rural Muse 111 When I stroll o'er the mole-hilly green. 1891 ‘Annie Thomas’ That Affair I. xii. 201 A rather mole-hilly piece of grass. |