Meanings
- A famous mountain in the Black Hills of South Dakota with the heads of four US presidents carved into it.
plural Mount Rushmores · alternative Rushmore
- broadlyThe four most important people in a particular field or category.
Crying Dawson ruled the internet comment sections of the late ’00s and early ’10s. It’s “on the Mount Rushmore of GIFs,” says TV critic Sarah D. Bunting.
2021 May 1, Constance Grady, quoting Sarah D. Bunting, “The Day Dawson Cried”, in Vox2 more examples
In the long run, the companies behind all this technology could emerge from the pandemic as an even greater force in our lives. So said a Mount Rushmore of Times tech reporters: Daisuke Wakabayashi, Jack Nicas, Steve Lohr and Mike Isaac.
2020 March 27, Cade Metz, “The Week in Tech: We’re Testing How Much the Internet Can Handle”, in New York TimesIn Mars's office, near his own impressive executive desk (a Vladimir Kagan), hangs a mixed media artwork depicting legendary MCs like Queen Latifah, Slick Rick, Rakim, and Nas (a business partner of Mars's). It is his Mount Rushmore of rap, a "hip-hop royal family," he says of the piece he created with his brother, the pop artist Robert Mars.
2026 May 28, Lola Ogunnaike, “Major Drama”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, pages 114-115
Origin
Named after American businessman and attorney Charles E. Rushmore (1857–1931). In 1877, the United States broke the Treaty of Fort Laramie and asserted control over the Black Hills area, leading to an influx of settlers and prospectors, among whom was New York mining promoter James Wilson, who organized the Harney Peak Tin Company, and hired Rushmore to visit the Black Hills and confirm the company’s land claims. Rushmore visited the area on three or four trips over the span of 1884 and 1885. During one of these visits, Rushmore was traveling near the base of the peak and, impressed with it, asked his guide, Bill Challis, the mountain’s name, who replied that the mountain did not have a name, but that it would henceforth be named after Rushmore. The name “Mount Rushmore” continued to be used locally, and was officially recognized by the United States Board on Geographic Names in June 1930.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish Mount Rushmore
- Mount Rushmoremountain in the Black Hills
Cite this entry
Mount Rushmore. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mount%20Rushmore
“Mount Rushmore.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mount%20Rushmore. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Mount Rushmore,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Mount%20Rushmore.
Source: Mount Rushmore on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.