a|mount

a|mount «uh MOWNT», noun, verb.

–n.

1. the total sum; quantity to which anything mounts up or reaches: »

What is the amount of the bill for the groceries?

2. the full value, effect, extent, or force: »

The amount of evidence against him is great.

SYNONYM(S): significance, import.

3. the quantity or number (of something); a quantity viewed as a whole: »

a great amount of intelligence. No amount of coaxing would make the dog leave his master.

4. the sum of the principal and interest due on a loan. Abbr: amt.

╂[< verb]

–v.i.

1. to reach or come (to); add up: »

The loss from the flood amounts to ten million dollars.

2. to be equal (to); be equivalent in quantity, value, force, or effect: »

Keeping what belongs to another amounts to stealing. Her unfriendly comment amounted to an insult. The Historical Society had been n existence twenty years, but…it hadn't amounted to a hill of beans (New Yorker).

╂[< Old French amonter < amont < Latin ad to, mōns, montis mountain]

Usage amount, number. Amount is used of things viewed in the bulk, weight, or sum; number is used of persons or things that can be counted: »

an amount of milk, a number of cans of milk.