ram

English Online Dictionary. What means ram‎? What does ram mean?

English

Pronunciation

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

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)

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.
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.

Hyponyms

(warship intended to sink ships by ramming):

• torpedo ram

Coordinate terms

(male sheep):

• chilver
• ewe
• lamb

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• ewe
• hog
• shearling
• teg
• wether

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)

1. (ambitransitive) To collide with (an object), usually with the intention of damaging it or disabling its function.
2. (transitive) To strike (something) hard, especially with an implement.

3. (transitive) To seat a cartridge, projectile, or propellant charge in the breech of a firearm by pushing or striking.

4. (transitive, also figuratively) To force, cram or thrust (someone or something) into or through something.
5. (transitive) To fill or compact by pounding or driving.

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

Derived terms

Translations

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)

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

See also

• ram-don

Anagrams

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

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin rāmus.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

ram m (plural rams)

1. bouquet, bunch
2. (architecture) flight of stairs
3. (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

• IPA^(key): /rɑm/
• Hyphenation: ram
• Rhymes: -ɑm

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)

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

Derived terms

Descendants

• Afrikaans: ram

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

ram

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

Anagrams

• arm

Elfdalian

Adjective

ram

1. hoarse

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Friulian

Etymology 1

From Latin rāmus.

Noun

ram m (plural rams)

1. branch

Related terms

• rame

Etymology 2

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

Noun

ram m

1. copper

Gerka

Alternative forms

• ɣam

Etymology

Related to Ngas am (“water”).

Noun

ram

1. water

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

1. house

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

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

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic

Noun

ram (plural ram-ram)

1. rumbling, roaring

Etymology 2

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

Noun

ram (plural ram-ram)

1. frame

   Synonym: pemidangan

2. mesh
3. (colloquial) window

   Synonym: jendela

Etymology 3

Noun

ram

1. 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

1. house

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian rame (“copper”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /raːm/

Noun

ram m

1. (chemistry) copper

Middle English

Alternative forms

• rame, ramme, rem
• rom (West Midlands)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ram/, (West Midlands) /rɔm/

Noun

ram (plural rammes)

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

Descendants

• English: ram
• Scots: ram

References

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

Middle High German

Noun

ram

1. Alternative form of rame (“frame”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

ram

1. imperative of ramme

Old English

Noun

ram m

1. 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)

1. branch (of a tree, etc.)

Related terms

• ramel

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

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

Adjective

ram (noun form rama)

1. future; coming

   Antonym: pûer

2. shall be

Declension

Derived terms

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]‎^[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

Romanian

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈram/
• Rhymes: -am

Noun

ram n (plural ramuri)

1. (rare) branch, bough

   Synonyms: creangă, ramură

Related terms

• dărâma
• ramură
• rămuros

Romansch

Etymology 1

From Latin rāmus.

Noun

ram m (plural rams)

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

Alternative forms

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

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)

1. (Puter) frame, framework

Alternative forms

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

Etymology 3

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

Noun

ram f (plural rams)

1. (Puter) knot, gnarl

Alternative forms

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

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rɑːm/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

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

Declension

Descendants

• → Finnish: raami
• → Ingrian: raami

Etymology 2

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

Noun

ram c

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

Declension

See also

• labb
• tass

References

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

Anagrams

• arm, mar

Ternate

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɾam]

Verb

ram

1. (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

From English rum.

Noun

ram

1. rum

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

Verb

ram • (𤓆)

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

   sườn ram ― ribs cooked with such a method

See also

• rim

Etymology 2

Noun

ram

1. (Central Vietnam) fried spring roll

   Synonyms: nem rán, chả giò

Etymology 3

From French rame.

Noun

ram

1. ream