ram

• (UK, General American) enPR: răm, IPA^(key): /ɹæm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æm

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”).

ram (plural rams)

2. (zoology, agriculture) A male sheep, typically uncastrated.
3. A battering ram; a heavy object used for breaking through doors.
4. (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.

5. (military, nautical, chiefly historical) A reinforced section of the bow of a warship, intended to be used for ramming other ships.
6. A piston powered by hydraulic pressure.
7. An act of ramming.
8. 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."

(warship intended to sink ships by ramming):

• torpedo ram

(male sheep):

• chilver
• ewe
• lamb

• ewe
• hog
• shearling
• teg
• wether

From Middle English rammen, from the noun (see above). Compare Old High German rammen.

ram (third-person singular simple present rams, present participle ramming, simple past and past participle rammed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) 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^[1], 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^[2], 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)‎^[3], 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.

2. (transitive) To strike (something) hard, especially with an implement.

   To build a sturdy fence, you have to ram the posts deep into the ground.

3. (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.

4. (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^[4]:

     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.

5. (transitive) To fill or compact by pounding or driving.

   rammed earth walls

6. (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

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”).

ram (comparative more ram, superlative most ram)

1. (Northern England) Rancid; offensive in smell or taste.

• ram-don

• -mar-, AMR, ARM, Arm, Arm., MAR, MRA, Mar, Mar., RMA, arm, mar, mar-

Inherited from Latin rāmus.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈram]
• Rhymes: -am

ram m (plural rams)

1. bouquet, bunch
2. (architecture) flight of stairs
3. (figurative) branch (area in business or of knowledge, research)

• “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, 2024

• IPA^(key): /rɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ram
• Rhymes: -ɑm

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.

ram m (plural rammen, diminutive rammetje n, feminine ooi)

1. ram (male sheep)
2. male rabbit
3. battering ram

• Afrikaans: ram

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

ram

1. inflection of rammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

• arm

ram

1. hoarse

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

From Latin rāmus.

ram m (plural rams)

1. branch

• rame

From Vulgar Latin *arāmen, variant of Late Latin aerāmen, derived from Latin aer-. Compare Italian rame.

ram m

1. copper

• ɣam

Related to Ngas am (“water”).

ram

1. water

• 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], […]

ram

1. house

• 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';"

• IPA^(key): /ˈram/, [ˈram]
• Rhymes: -ram
• Hyphenation: ram

Onomatopoeic

ram (plural ram-ram, first-person possessive ramku, second-person possessive rammu, third-person possessive ramnya)

1. rumbling, roaring

Borrowed from Dutch raam (“window; frame”), from Middle Dutch rame.

ram (plural ram-ram, first-person possessive ramku, second-person possessive rammu, third-person possessive ramnya)

1. frame

   Synonym: pemidangan

2. mesh
3. (colloquial) window

   Synonym: jendela

ram

1. Alternative spelling of eram

• “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.

ram

1. house

• 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';"

Chemical element
Cu
Previous: nikil (Ni)
Next: żingu (Zn)

Borrowed from Italian rame (“copper”).

• IPA^(key): /raːm/

ram m

1. (chemistry) copper

• rame, ramme, rom, rem

From Old English ramm, from Proto-Germanic *rammaz.

• IPA^(key): /ram/, /raːm/, /rɔm/

ram (plural rams)

1. male sheep, ram
2. (astrology) Aries
3. pile driver, battering ram

• English: ram
• Scots: ram

• “ram, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

ram

1. Alternative form of rame (“frame”)

ram

1. imperative of ramme

ram m

1. Alternative form of ramm

From Latin rāmus. Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French raim.

ram m (oblique plural rams, nominative singular rams, nominative plural ram)

1. branch (of a tree, etc.)

• ramel

• Occitan: ram

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “rāmus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 10: R, page 39

Inherited from Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ram.

Cognate with Mbyá Guaraní -rã.

• IPA^(key): [ˈɾãm]
• Rhymes: -ãm
• Hyphenation: ram

ram (noun form rama)

1. future; coming

   Antonym: pûer

2. 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.

• ⇒ Nheengatu: arama

• 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]‎^[5] (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

Inherited from Latin rāmus, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“root”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈram/
• Rhymes: -am

• Audio:

  (file)

ram n (plural ramuri)

1. (rare) branch, bough

   Synonyms: creangă, ramură

• dărâma
• ramură
• rămuros

From Latin rāmus.

ram m (plural rams)

1. (Puter) branch (of tree, river, etc.)
2. (Puter, education) subject

• rom (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader)

• (branch): (Puter) manzina

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.

ram m (plural rams)

1. (Puter) frame, framework

• rom (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader)
• rama (Sursilvan)

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

ram f (plural rams)

1. (Puter) knot, gnarl

• rom (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran, Vallader)

• IPA^(key): /rɑːm/

• Audio:

  (file)

From Old Swedish rama, borrowed from Middle Low German rāme, from Old Saxon hrama.

ram c

1. frame (e.g. around a painting)
2. frame, boundaries (the set of options for actions given)
3. frame (a context for understanding)
4. bicycle frame

• → Finnish: raami
• → Ingrian: raami

From Old Swedish ramber, Old Norse hrammr (“bear's claw; paw”).

ram c

1. a front paw of a bear
2. (figuratively) a large hand

• labb
• tass

• ram in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• ram in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• ram in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

• arm, mar

• IPA^(key): [ɾam]

ram

1. (transitive) to wipe with both hands

Conjugation of ram
	Singular	Plural
	Inclusive	Exclusive
1st	toram	foram	miram
2nd	noram	niram
3rd	Masculine	oram	iram, yoram†
Feminine	moram
Neuter	iram
† - archaic

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001) A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh

From English rum.

ram

1. rum

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zaːm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʐaːm˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ɹaːm˧˧]

ram • (𤓆)

1. (cooking) to sauté then braise with added water or coconut water

   sườn ram ― ribs cooked with such a method

• rim

ram

1. (Central Vietnam) fried spring roll

   Synonyms: nem rán, chả giò

From French rame.

ram

1. ream