molehill


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mole·hill

 (mōl′hĭl′)
n.
A small mound of loose earth raised by a burrowing mole.
Idiom:
make a mountain out of a molehill
To exaggerate a minor problem.
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.

molehill

(ˈməʊlˌhɪl) or

molecast

n
1. (Zoology) the small mound of earth thrown up by a burrowing mole
2. make a mountain out of a molehill to exaggerate an unimportant matter out of all proportion
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

mole•hill

(ˈmoʊlˌhɪl)

n.
a small mound or ridge of earth raised up by a mole or moles burrowing under the ground.
[1400–50]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.molehill - a mound of earth made by moles while burrowingmolehill - a mound of earth made by moles while burrowing
hammock, hillock, hummock, knoll, mound - a small natural hill
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
Translations
تَل خُلْدي
krtina
muldvarpeskud
vakondtúrás
moldvörpuhaugur
krtinec
köstebek tepesi

molehill

[ˈməʊlhɪl] Ntopera f
see also mountain A
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

molehill

[ˈməʊlhɪl] ntaupinière f
to make a mountain out of a molehill → se faire une montagne d'un rien
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mole2

(məul) noun
a small burrowing animal with very small eyes and soft fur.
ˈmolehill noun
a little heap of earth dug up by a mole while tunnelling.
make a mountain out of a molehill
to exaggerate the importance of a problem etc.
Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
References in classic literature ?
There IS such a thing, Sergeant, as making a mountain out of a molehill. Good morning."
"There is also such a thing as making nothing out of a molehill, in consequence of your head being too high to see it." Having returned his brother-officer's compliments in those terms, Sergeant Cuff wheeled about, and walked away to the window by himself.
"Oh, he made a mountain out of a molehill. You wouldn't have me let that fine fellow work himself to death just for want of a little help, when he is worth a dozen of us lazy chaps, would you?"
It gave me a great shock, this narrow escape, and I got on to my feet quickly, and burying the remains of my lunch under the gigantic molehill on which I had been sitting, asked myself nervously what I proposed to do next.
parents are living?' I may be making mountains out of molehills; but I thought at the time (and think still) that she had some special interest in inquiring after your father, and, not wishing me to notice it for reasons of her own, changed the form of the question so as to include your mother.
Yet it is equally true, that the same passion will sometimes make mountains of molehills, and produce despair in the midst of hope; but these cold fits last not long in good constitutions.
They were warlike little nations and defied, in those days, governments that overshadow them now as mountains overshadow molehills. The Saracens captured and pillaged Genoa nine hundred years ago, but during the following century Genoa and Pisa entered into an offensive and defensive alliance and besieged the Saracen colonies in Sardinia and the Balearic Isles with an obstinacy that maintained its pristine vigor and held to its purpose for forty long years.
'Well!' continued Mr Meagles in an apologetic way, 'I admit as a practical man, and I am sure Mother would admit as a practical woman, that we do, in families, magnify our troubles and make mountains of our molehills in a way that is calculated to be rather trying to people who look on--to mere outsiders, you know, Clennam.
The indescribable interest with which I strained my eyes, as the first patches of American soil peeped like molehills from the green sea, and followed them, as they swelled, by slow and almost imperceptible degrees, into a continuous line of coast, can hardly be exaggerated.
Surely they had better wait and see what was to happen, instead of making mountains out of molehills.
It was strange there, in the very depths of the town, with ten miles of man's handiwork on every side of us, to feel the iron grip of Nature, and to be conscious that to the huge elemental forces all London was no more than the molehills that dot the fields.
She further alleged PML-N of making a mountain out of a molehill on the issue only to obtain 'political oxygen'.