surmount

verb

Etymology: From Middle English surmounten, from Old French surmonter (“to rise above, surmount”), from sur- (“above”) + monter (“to mount”), equivalent to sur- + mount.

1. To get or be over without touching or resting on; to overcome.

   “this difficulty may perhaps be surmounted by care and art”

   “There are two realms: that of divine powers, another of the metadivine.¹ Even the gods are depicted as calling upon metadivine forces to surmount their own predestined limitations.”

2. To cap; to sit on top of.

   “The boiler had a large dome over the firebox, inside the cab, surmounted by Ramsbottom safety valves.”

   “The ovolo surmounting the dentil course generally turns the corner by means of a carved acanthus leaf, the decorated cyma and cyma reversa being similarly treated at the corner.”