hummock

/ˈhʌmək/

Other forms: hummocks

You don't swing in a hummock, you climb one. A hummock is a hill, a mound, or a ridge.

This word was once a nautical term describing a hill rising up on a coastline. A hummock is a perfect place for a lighthouse. Today it is either a rounded hill or an elevated place in an ice field. The origin of the word is unknown, but the ending -ock is a diminutive, meaning it gives the noun the sense of being small. That is why a hummock is a knoll and not a mountain.

Definitions of hummock

1. noun

   a small natural hill
   synonyms: hammock, hillock, knoll, mound

   types:

   anthill, formicary

   a mound of earth made by ants as they dig their nest

   kopje, koppie

   a small hill rising up from the African veld

   molehill

   a mound of earth made by moles while burrowing

   type of:

   hill

   a local and well-defined elevation of the land