1894 Brewer’s / M / Montagnards [the mountain party]
The extreme democratic politicians in the French Revolution; so called because they occupied the highest tier of benches in the hall of the National Convention. The opposite party sat on the level of the floor, called the “plain.”
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.