Ŭl'tra-mŏn'tāne1, a.
a. [L. Lat. ultramontanus, from Lat. ultra, beyond, and montanus, belonging to a mountain, from mons, montis, mountain; Sp. ultramontano, Fr. ultramontain.] Being beyond the mountains, or Alps, in respect to the one who speaks.
☞ This term was first applied, somewhat contemptuously, by the Italians, to the nations north of the Alps, especially Germany and France, their painters, jurists, &c. At a later period, the French and Germans applied it to the Italians. It is now more particularly used in respect to religious matters; and ultramontane doctrines, when spoken of north of the Alps, denote the extreme views of the pope's rights and supremacy maintained by Bellarmin and other Italian writers.