▪ I. amount, v.
(əˈmaʊnt)
Also 3 amunt, a-mounti, -ty, 4 amont, 5 amowynt, 6 admount.
[a. OFr. amonte-r, amunter, amounter, f. amunt, amont, upward, lit. à mont:—L. ad montem to the hill, hill-ward, upward. In earlier usage occas. aphetized to mount, and then not distinguished from the simple mount, a. Fr. monter. This is probably the reason why mount is now used in all the literal senses.]
Gen. sign. To go up, rise; ascend (a hill); rise to, attain to; come up in rank, quantity, value, meaning, or practical effect to.
† 1. intr. (simply, or with prep. defining relation to an object.) To go up, ascend, rise, mount. Obs.
| c 1250 O. Kent. Serm. in O.E. Misc. 28 Ase se smech..goth upward..Swo amuntet si gode biddinge to gode. 1470 Harding Chron cii, Death alone [to his corps] amounted, Dryuyng his soule out fro the worldly nest. 1470–85 Malory Arthur x. iii, My lord..amounted vpon his horse. 1577 H. Peacham Gard. Eloq. 106 When the Larke doth fyrst amounte on high. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. ix. liv, So up he rose and thence amounted streight. 1631 Markham Way to Wealth vi. iii. x. (1668) 34 When any bough or spray shall amount above the rest. |
† 2. trans. To ascend, climb, mount. Obs. rare.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 395 Þay cryed vchone, Þat amounted þe masse. |
† 3. intr. To ascend or go back in time. Obs. rare.
| 1704 Hearne Ductor Hist. I. 398 Their earliest Observations..amounted no higher than 1903 Years before that Time. |
† 4. intr. To rise, mount up, increase. a. in quantity or amount; b. in value. Obs.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. i. 173 This shippe lading the same commodity will cause it to amount in price. 1677 Houssaie's Govt. Venice 177 They have a certain allowance, which with their other Fees..amounts, and makes their Revenue very considerable. 1706 Phillips, Amount, to rise up in Value, or Tenour. |
5. To rise in number or quantity so as to reach; to come to (a specified number or quantity). † a. trans. with simple obj. Obs.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 6020 Thes kyngis ost..amounted fyve hundrod thousand Knyghtis. c 1391 Chaucer Astrol. i. §16 Þat amonteth 360 degres. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccv. 186 The som amounted v thousand pounde. [1630 Wadsworth Sp. Pilgr. iii. 14 The number..ordinarily neither amounts above or under an 100.] |
† b. with quasi-advb. obj. Obs.
| a 1325 Metr. Hom. 3 For [all than] sall we yeld acount Quat that wisdom mai amount. 1366 Mandeville xix. 213 Now may men wel rekene, how moche that it amountethe. |
c. intr. with to.
| 1546 Langley Polyd. Verg. i. 111 The multitude admounted to suche infinitee of numbre. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. i. 30 Which doth amount to three odde Duckets more Than I stand debted to this Gentleman. 1696 Whiston Th. Earth iii. (1722) 250 The Posterity of Jacob..amounted to six hundred thousand Males. 1704 Lond. Gaz. mmmmxlvi/2 They amount now to above 11000. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. x. 366 The entries for consumption amounted to 1,733,816 imperial gallons. 1863 Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. ii. ii. 312 The debt amounted to less than forty shillings. |
† 6. intr. To arise as the result of addition; to be the sum; to result. Obs.
| 1542 Recorde Gr. Artes (1575) 118 Write that that amounteth, vnder the lowest line. 1571 Digges Geom. Pract. iii. vi, Whervnto if ye adioyn 126..there amounteth 302. 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. xiv, The aforesaid number will amount of infants and old folk. 1650 ― Pisgah Sight Ded. 2 A constellation..the lustre thereof amounting from many stars together. |
7. To come up to in meaning, effect, or substance; to be equivalent to. † a. trans. with quasi-advb. obj.: To mean, signify. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. 497 The erchebissop nolde come, vor it ne ssolde amounti noȝt. a 1300 Leg. Rood 240 (1871) 38 Wat þis somounce amounty [v.r. amounti] schal..Ich wene þe quene enqueri wole. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 100 Thus much amounteth al þat euere he mente. 1393 Gower Conf. III. 54 The more that he his sweven accompteth, The lasse he wot, what it amounteth. 1440 Promp. Parv., Amowyntyn, or sygnifyyn, Denoto, significo. 1460 Lybeaus Disc. 1471 Tell me, mayde chast, What amounteth thys. |
b. intr. with to. To be equivalent when taken in its full force or significance, to come practically to, be tantamount to.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 281 Though I had her love wonne, It might into no prise amounte. 1533 More Debell. Salem Wks. 1557, 994/2 The verye whole sum [of the reason] amounteth to no more, but that it mai somtime happen, that an innocent may take harme therby. 1695 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) III. 486 The late disorder..made by the Jacobites amounts to high treason. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 494 ¶4 The proofs of it do not amount to a demonstration. 1865 Trollope Belton Est. xv. 178 Such a speech..seemed to her almost to amount to insult. |
† 8. causal. To cause to rise, to raise or elevate, in quality, rank, or estimation. Obs.
| 1563 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 97 Right thus thou mayst thy praise amount on hie. 1599 Broughton's Lett. vii. 21 [They] amounted him to bee the Chiefe professor in Diuinitie. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ix. 110 Here no Papists were arraigned to amount it to a Popish miracle. |
▪ II. amount, n.
(əˈmaʊnt)
[f. prec. vb.]
1. The sum total to which anything mounts up or reaches: a. in quantity.
| 1710 Act 8 Anne in Lond. Gaz. mmmmdcci/3 Shall forfeit double the Amount of the said Drawback. 1852 M{supc}Culloch Taxation ii. i. 156 A greater amount of revenue. 1879 Wrightson in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 108/1 A smaller amount of straw as litter. |
b. in number.
| 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. iii. vi. 221 A number of little birds, to the amount I believe of twelve or fourteen. 1849 Alison Hist. Eur. VIII. liv. §28. 489 Fame had magnified the amount of the forces. 1859 B. Smith Arith. & Alg. 4 The Sum or Amount of the several numbers so added. |
c. spec. The sum of the principal and interest due upon a loan.
| 1796 Hutton Math. Dict. I. 638/1 The sum of the Principal and Interest is called the Amount. |
2. fig. The full value, effect, significance, or import.
| 1732 Pope Ess. Man iv. 307 The whole amount of that enormous fame. a 1748 Thomson (J.) Ye lying vanities of life, Where are you now, and what is your amount? 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. App. 362 What the real amount of that statement may be. 1881 Times 24 Dec. 5/3 (American) The amount of it is that you have too much to say in this case. |
3. A quantity or sum viewed as a total.
| 1833 I. Taylor Fanat. ii. 32 Each [appetite] must observe its due amount of force. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 162 The amount of resistance which William met with. 1882 Daily Tel. 30 Jan., This year the National ought not to take a great amount of winning. |
4. In colloq. phr. any amount (of), a great deal (of) (cf. any a. 2 b); no amount of, not even the greatest possible amount of (orig. U.S.).
| 1893 G. B. Shaw Widowers' Houses ii. iii. 41, I have any amount of letters for you. 1914 M. Sinclair Three Sisters lxiii. 369 And he had spent any amount of money on it. 1921 E. O'Neill Emperor Jones v. 185 Capable of any amount of hard labor. 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby v. 116 No amount of fire or freshness can challenge what a man can store up in his ghostly heart. 1952 G. Sarton Hist. Sci. I. xiv. 363 It takes a surgeon to appreciate the fine points of Hippocratic surgery, and no amount of explanation would help other readers to judge them correctly. 1961 N. D. Gill People of Way v. 55 Many people wake up tired of a morning and no amount of rest seems to make any difference. 1961 D. Black Foot of Rainbow xxviii. 199 There was any amount of drink on board. 1968 Listener 10 Oct. 472/3 ‘Did you encounter opposition in the early stages?’ ‘Oh, any amount.’ 1973 E. F. Schumacher Small is Beautiful i. ii. 33 The disease having been caused by allowing cleverness to displace wisdom, no amount of clever research is likely to produce a cure. 1985 N.Y. Times 18 Dec. d27/6 When you can get five goals on thirteen shots, that pretty much makes up for any amount of mistakes. |