ram
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Appendix:Variations of "ram"
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English ram, rom, ramme, from Old English ramm (“ram”), from Proto-Germanic *rammaz (“ram”), possibly from *rammaz (“strong”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Rom (“ram”), Dutch ram (“a male sheep”), German Ramm, Ramme (“ram”). Possibly akin also to Danish ram (“sharp; acrid; rank”), Swedish ram (“strong; perfect”), Faroese ramur (“strong; competent”), Icelandic rammur (“strong; sturdy”).
Noun
ram (plural rams)
- (zoology, agriculture) A male sheep, typically uncastrated.
- A battering ram; a heavy object used for breaking through doors.
- (military, nautical, chiefly historical) A warship intended to sink other ships by ramming them.
- 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 178:
- About a couple of miles out lay an ironclad very low in the water, almost, to my brother's perception, like a water-logged ship. This was the ram Thunder Child.
- (military, nautical, chiefly historical) A reinforced section of the bow of a warship, intended to be used for ramming other ships.
- A piston powered by hydraulic pressure.
- An act of ramming.
- A weight which strikes a blow, in a ramming device such as a pile driver, steam hammer, or stamp mill.
- 1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, page 487:
- He describes the operation thus: "The heavy ram employed to impart the finishing strokes, hoisted up with double purchase and snail's pace to the summit of the Piling Engine, and then falling down like a thunderbolt on the head of the devoted timber, driving it perhaps a single half inch in to the stratum below, is well calculated to put to the test the virtue of patience, while it illustrates the old adage of—slow and sure."
Hyponyms
(warship intended to sink ships by ramming):
Coordinate terms
(male sheep):
Derived terms
- hydraulic ram
- ram air
- ram air turbine
- ram bow
- ram-cat
- ram cichlid
- ramjet
- ram-pack
- ram-packed
- ram press
- ram pressure
- ramrod
- tunnel ram
- water ram
Translations
male sheep
|
battering ram — see battering ram
warship that sinks other ships by ramming them
piston powered by hydraulic pressure
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also
Etymology 2
From Middle English rammen, from the noun (see above). Compare Old High German rammen.
Verb
ram (third-person singular simple present rams, present participle ramming, simple past and past participle rammed)
- (ambitransitive) To collide with (an object), usually with the intention of damaging it or disabling its function.
- The man, driving an SUV, then rammed the gate, according to police.
- 2016 December 29, M. Kumar, “Snatch thieves accidentally rammed by victim”, in The Star, Malaysia:
- Two snatch thieves who snatched a woman's bag experienced swift karma when their victim accidentally rammed into their motorcycle.
- 2018 October 17, Drachinifel, 25:35 from the start, in Last Ride of the High Seas Fleet - Battle of Texel 1918, archived from the original on 4 August 2022:
- The other ships, either not caring or too badly-damaged to do anything about it, proceed on their mission, with König the last to fall silent, shot to pieces in a last attempt to ram the Bellerophon.
- 2021 December 29, Drachinifel, 21:03 from the start, in The USN Pacific Submarine Campaign - The Dark Year (Dec'41 - Dec'42), archived from the original on 19 July 2022:
- The only amusing highlight was Gudgeon having managed to exploit U.S. codebreaking efforts to ambush and destroy the submarine I-173, albeit not for the lack of the Mark 14's trying to sabotage the effort, as the torpedo that had hit the sub had refused to detonate; it seemed, however, that the car-crash levels of kinetic energy involved in the dud simply ramming the sub had nonetheless done enough to fatally damage it.
- (transitive) To strike (something) hard, especially with an implement.
- To build a sturdy fence, you have to ram the posts deep into the ground.
- (transitive) To seat a cartridge, projectile, or propellant charge in the breech of a firearm by pushing or striking.
- After placing the cartridge in the musket, ram it down securely with the ramrod.
- (transitive, also figuratively) To force, cram or thrust (someone or something) into or through something.
- 2023 July 4, Marina Hyde, “Who’s for political Bazball with Rishi? Voters? Tories? Anyone?”, in The Guardian:
- Again: great to take lessons in ethics from a guy currently trying to ram through a policy of freighting refugees off to cuddly Rwandan president Paul Kagame.
- (transitive) To fill or compact by pounding or driving.
- They rammed the earth walls to make them more compact
- (slang) To thrust during sexual intercourse.
- 1999, Mr.Web, Size Matters review by mr. web review Group: rec.arts.movies.erotica
- like feel a soft butt against their pelvis or ram a girl really hard with piston-like speed while she begs and screams for more
- 1999, Mr.Web, Size Matters review by mr. web review Group: rec.arts.movies.erotica
Derived terms
Translations
intentionally collide with (a ship)
|
strike (something) hard
|
Etymology 3
Likely from Old Norse ramr, rammr (“strong, rank, bitter”), from Proto-Germanic *rammaz (“strong, overbearing; acrid, rank”), perhaps ultimately related to Etymology 1 above. Compare Scots ram (“a rank odour”). Compare also Middle English rammish (“rank, offensive in smell”).
Adjective
ram (comparative more ram, superlative most ram)
- (Northern England) Rancid; offensive in smell or taste.
See also
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
ram m (plural rams)
- bouquet, bunch
- (architecture) flight of stairs
- (figurative) branch (area in business or of knowledge, research)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “ram” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
- “ram” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “ram”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.
Dutch
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch ram (“a male sheep”), from Old Dutch *ram, of West-Germanic origin, possibly from Proto-Germanic *rammaz (“strong”). Cognate to English ram (“a male sheep”). The sense "battering ram" was borrowed as a semantic loan from Latin ariēs in Middle Dutch.
Noun
ram m (plural rammen, diminutive rammetje n, feminine ooi)
- ram (male sheep)
- male rabbit
- battering ram
Derived terms
Descendants
- Afrikaans: ram
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
ram
- inflection of rammen:
Anagrams
Elfdalian
Adjective
ram
Inflection
This adjective needs an inflection-table template.
Friulian
Etymology 1
Noun
ram m (plural rams)
Related terms
Etymology 2
From Vulgar Latin *arāmen, variant of Late Latin aerāmen, derived from Latin aer-. Compare Italian rame.
Noun
ram m
Gerka
Alternative forms
Etymology
Noun
ram
References
- Takács, Gábor (2007) Etymological Dictionary of Egyptian, volume 3, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 201, →ISBN:
- […] we should carefully distinguish the following Ch. roots from AA *m-ˀ "water" [GT]:
- (1) Ch. *h-m "water" [GT]: WCh. *hama [Stl.]: AS *ham (Gmy. *hām) [GT 2004, 153] = *am [Stl. 1977] = *ham [Dlg.] = *ham [Stl. 1987]: Gerka ram [ɣam, ref. < *ham] [Ftp. 1911, 221] = ɣàm "Wasser" [Jng. 1965, 174], […]
Haruai
Noun
ram
Further reading
- Dicky Gilbers, John A. Nerbonne, J. Schaeken, Languages in Contact (2000, →ISBN), page 84: "Examples of basic vocabulary items that are shared by Haruai and Kobon but not by Hagahai (on the basis of the lists in Davies and Comrie (1984)) include, for instance: Haruai ram, Kobon ram 'house';"
Indonesian
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Dutch raam (“window; frame”), from Middle Dutch rame.
Noun
- frame
- Synonym: pemidangan
- mesh
- (colloquial) window
- Synonym: jendela
Etymology 3
Noun
ram
- Alternative spelling of eram
Further reading
- “ram” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.
Kobon
Noun
ram
Further reading
- Bernard Comrie, Switch Reference in Huichol, in Switch-reference and Universal Grammar, edited by John Haiman, Pamela Munro, page 29 (in notes):
- hol bɨ kaj pak-ul ram ud ar-bul
- we-two man pig strike SS-1DU house take go I-1DU
- 'we two killed a pig and took it home'
- Dicky Gilbers, John A. Nerbonne, J. Schaeken, Languages in Contact (2000, →ISBN), page 84: "Examples of basic vocabulary items that are shared by Haruai and Kobon but not by Hagahai (on the basis of the lists in Davies and Comrie (1984)) include, for instance: Haruai ram, Kobon ram 'house';"
Maltese
Chemical element | |
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Cu | |
Previous: nikil (Ni) | |
Next: żingu (Zn) |
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
ram m
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English ramm, from Proto-West Germanic *ramm, from Proto-Germanic *rammaz.
Pronunciation
Noun
ram (plural rammes)
Descendants
References
- “ram, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.
Middle High German
Noun
ram
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
ram
- imperative of ramme
Old English
Noun
ram m
- Alternative form of ramm
Old Occitan
Etymology
From Latin rāmus. Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French raim.
Noun
ram m (oblique plural rams, nominative singular rams, nominative plural ram)
- branch (of a tree, etc.)
Related terms
Descendants
- Occitan: ram
References
- Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “rāmus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 10: R, page 39
Old Tupi
Etymology
Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ram.
Cognate with Mbyá Guaraní -rã.
Pronunciation
Adjective
ram (noun form rama)
- future; coming
- Antonym: pûer
- shall be
- 1555, Joseph of Anchieta, chapter VII, in Arte de grammatica da lingoa mais vſada na coſta do Braſil (overall work in Portuguese), Coimbra: Antonio de Mariz, published 1595, Da formição dos Præteritos, & Futuros dos nomes, page 33v:
- […] xerâm, nderâm, yrâm.
- [ […] xe ram, nde ram, i ram.]
- I shall be, you shall be, they shall be.
Declension
Causative | moram | |||||
Deadjectivals | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
-ba'e | i ramyba'e | |||||
-sab(a) | rambaba | |||||
Singular | Singular & Plural | Plural | ||||
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person exclusive | 1st person inclusive | 2nd person | |
Adjectival forms | ||||||
Active | ||||||
Indicative | xe ram | nde ram | i ram | oré ram | îandé ram | pe ram |
Imperative | ||||||
Permissive | ta xe ram | ta nde ram | t'i ram | t'oré ram | t'îandé ram | ta pe ram |
Negative indicative | na xe rami | na nde rami | n'i rami | n'oré rami | n'îandé rami | na pe rami |
Negative imperative | nde ram umẽ | pe ram umẽ | ||||
Negative permissive | ta xe ram umẽ | ta nde ram umẽ | t'i ram umẽ | t'oré ram umẽ | t'îandé ram umẽ | ta pe ram umẽ |
Gerund | ||||||
Affirmative | xe ramamo | nde ramamo | o ramamo | oré ramamo | îandé ramamo | pe ramamo |
Negative | xe rame'ymamo | nde rame'ymamo | o rame'ymamo | oré rame'ymamo | îandé rame'ymamo | pe rame'ymamo |
Nominal forms | ||||||
Infinitive | ||||||
Affirmative | rama | |||||
Negative | rame'yma | |||||
Circumstantial | ||||||
Affirmative | same as gerund1 | |||||
xe rami2 | i rami2 | oré rami2 | îandé rami2 | |||
Negative | same as gerund1 | |||||
xe rame'ymi2 | i rame'ymi2 | oré rame'ymi2 | îandé rame'ymi2 | |||
1South Tupi 2North Tupi |
Note: not all forms are attested, most of the table is reconstructed based on known patterns.
Derived terms
- pûeram
- -pûeram
- -ram
- -rambûer
- rambûer
Descendants
- ⇒ Nheengatu: arama
References
- Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2005) chapter 8, in Método Moderno de Tupi Antigo: a língua do Brasil dos primeiros séculos [Modern method of Old Tupi: the language of Brazil's early centuries] (in Portuguese), 3 edition, São Paulo: Global Editora, →ISBN, O tempo nominal em tupi, pages 108–110
- Eduardo de Almeida Navarro (2013) “ram”, in Dicionário de tupi antigo: a língua indígena clássica do Brasil [Dictionary of Old Tupi: The Classical Indigenous Language of Brazil] (overall work in Portuguese), São Paulo: Global, →ISBN, page 426, column 1
Romanian
Etymology
Inherited from Latin rāmus, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).
Pronunciation
Noun
ram n (plural ramuri)
Related terms
Romansch
Etymology 1
Noun
ram m (plural rams)
Alternative forms
Synonyms
- (branch): (Puter) manzina
Etymology 2
Germanic borrowing, ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *hramu (“frame”).
This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.
Noun
ram m (plural rams)
Alternative forms
Etymology 3
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
ram f (plural rams)
Alternative forms
Swedish
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Old Swedish rama, borrowed from Middle Low German rāme, from Old Saxon hrama.
Noun
ram c
- frame (e.g. around a painting)
- frame, boundaries (the set of options for actions given)
- frame (a context for understanding)
- bicycle frame
Declension
nominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | ram | rams |
definite | ramen | ramens | |
plural | indefinite | ramar | ramars |
definite | ramarna | ramarnas |
Descendants
Etymology 2
From Old Swedish ramber, Old Norse hrammr (“bear's claw; paw”).
Noun
ram c
- a front paw of a bear
- (figuratively) a large hand
Declension
nominative | genitive | ||
---|---|---|---|
singular | indefinite | ram | rams |
definite | ramen | ramens | |
plural | indefinite | ramar | ramars |
definite | ramarna | ramarnas |
See also
References
Anagrams
Ternate
Pronunciation
Verb
ram
- (transitive) to wipe with both hands
Conjugation
References
- Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh
Tok Pisin
Etymology
Noun
ram
Vietnamese
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Verb
ram • (𤓆)
- (cooking) to sauté then braise with added water or coconut water
- sườn ram ― ribs cooked with such a method
See also
Etymology 2
Noun
ram
- (Central Vietnam) fried spring roll
Etymology 3
Noun
ram
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