Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PAR'A-MOUNT, a. [Norm. peramont; per and mount, amont or monter, to ascend.]

1. Superior to all others; possessing the highest title or jurisdiction; as, lord paramount, the chief lord of the fee, or of lands, tenements and hereditaments. In England, the king is lord paramount, of whom all the land all the kingdom supposed to be held. But in some cases the lord of several manors is called the lord paramount. – Blackstone.
2. Eminent; of the highest order. – Bacon.
3. Superior to all others; as, private interest is usually paramount to all other considerations.