ram
- 1Short for random-access memory: a computer's main working memory, which holds the programs and data in use and can be read or written in any order.
Upgrading the RAM made the old computer noticeably faster.
Video editing software uses a lot of RAM when you work with large files.
UsageWritten in capitals and said like the animal: more RAM, 16 GB of RAM, DDR5 RAM.
- 2A male sheep, usually one that has not been castrated.
The farmer bought a new ram to improve the quality of his flock.
Two rams clashed horns on the rocky hillside.
Note
In the sheep pen the ram is the breeding male, set apart from the ewe and from the wether, a male castrated young.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The ram is the intact breeding male sheep; the ewe is female. jcast.fresnostate.edu
- A wether is a male sheep castrated young. btb.termiumplus.gc.ca
- 3To collide with something, usually with the aim of damaging it or putting it out of action.
The warship turned hard in an attempt to ram the enemy submarine.
During the chase, the getaway car repeatedly rammed into the cruiser's rear bumper.
UsageUsed with or without into: ram the gate, ram into a motorbike.
- 4To force, cram, or thrust someone or something into or through something, literally or figuratively.
Party leaders tried to ram the bill through before the summer recess.
Voters are tired of having the same slogans rammed down their throats.
UsageSet phrases: ram a bill through, ram something down someone's throat.
Similarforce, push, cram, shove, thrust
Note
The figurative use is about pushing something past resistance, and politics leans on it: a government rams a bill through, or rams through a policy, as Marina Hyde, writing in 2023, accuses one politician of doing.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Marina Hyde made this criticism in 2023. theguardian.com
- 5A battering ram, the heavy object used to force a way through doors.
Officers swung a steel ram against the door until the frame gave way.
The attackers hauled a ram made from a tree trunk up to the castle doors.
- 6SayRAHMUS/ɹɑm/UK/ɹɑːm/Another spelling of Rāma: the Hindu god, an incarnation of Vishnu and the hero of the epic Ramayana.
Pilgrims travel to Ayodhya, the city linked with Ram, from across India.
The priest began the evening prayers with a hymn to Ram.
Note
This spelling drops both the long-vowel mark and the final a of Rāma, closer to how the name is said in Hindi, but it names the same figure: the king of Ayodhya worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu. Like other names, it takes a capital letter and no article.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Ram is a spelling of Rāma that omits the macron and final a and names the same figure. en.wiktionary.org
- The absence of the final a reflects the Hindi pronunciation. en.wiktionary.org
- Rāma is the king of Ayodhya in Hindu tradition. en.wiktionary.org
- Rāma is worshipped as an avatar of Vishnu. en.wikipedia.org
- Ram, as this personal name, normally has an initial capital and no article. en.wiktionary.org
- 7To drive, pound, or pack something down hard, as earth between forms, a post into the ground, or a charge into a gun barrel.
Workers ram damp earth between wooden forms to build the thick walls.
After setting the fence post upright, he rammed the gravel down around it with a heavy steel bar.
Less common meanings
- 8Aries, either the constellation or the sign of the zodiac.
The astronomer pointed her telescope toward the Ram.
Next month the planet moves out of the Ram and into the Bull.
SimilarAries
- 9A reinforced point on a warship's bow for striking other ships, or a warship built with one.
The ironclad ram struck the frigate below the waterline and sank her in minutes.
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.
1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the WorldsNote
The word belongs to naval history and is used today mainly in writing about it. Such a ship fought with its reinforced bow rather than relying on its guns alone, and in H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds the ironclad Thunder Child is a ram, lying so low in the water that it looks waterlogged.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- A ram warship used its reinforced bow to strike enemy ships. en.wikipedia.org
- H. G. Wells wrote The War of the Worlds. gutenberg.org
- Thunder Child is an ironclad ram described as sitting very low in the water and appearing waterlogged. gutenberg.org
- 10
- 11
- 12An instance of ramming something, as in a deliberate collision or a heavy blow.
The destroyer's captain chose a ram rather than risk another torpedo miss.
A single ram from the getaway car left the cruiser's door badly dented.
- 13The heavy weight that delivers the blow in a ramming machine such as a pile driver, steam hammer, or stamp mill.
Each time the ram fell, the pile sank a few more inches into the riverbed.
The stamp mill's iron rams crushed the ore into powder.
Similarhammer
- 14Short for relative atomic mass: the average mass of an element's atoms, measured relative to one twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom.
The exam question gave the RAM of sodium and asked for the mass of two moles.
Because chlorine has two common isotopes, its RAM is not a whole number.
Note
Equations replace it with the symbol Aᵣ; in prose it is written RAM or r.a.m. Because the quantity compares an element's average atomic mass with one twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom, it is a pure ratio with no unit, so chlorine's RAM is simply 35.5.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Relative atomic mass compares an element's average atomic mass with one twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom. ciaaw.org
- Relative atomic mass is a dimensionless ratio with no unit. degruyterbrill.com
- Chlorine's relative atomic mass is conventionally given as 35.5 in introductory teaching; this is a rounded value. open.edu
- 15Offensive in smell or taste, as rancid food is.
There's a ram smell coming from the bin in the yard.
Our mam said the butter was too ram to use, so she chucked it out.
Similarrancid, rank, foul, off
Oppositefresh
Note
Northern England keeps this adjective, and readers elsewhere may not recognize it; it compares with more and most, not with -er and -est. It is a separate word from the male sheep, probably from Old Norse ramr, "strong, rank, bitter", with relatives in Scots ram, a rank smell, and Middle English rammish.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
- The adjective has a distinct immediate origin from the noun meaning male sheep. en.wiktionary.org
- The adjective probably derives from Old Norse ramr, meaning strong, rank, bitter. en.wiktionary.org
- Scots ram, meaning a rank smell, is a related comparison. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English rammish is a related comparison. en.wiktionary.org
- 16A boy's or man's first name.
- 17A family name.
- 18Someone connected with Derby County Football Club, such as a supporter, player, or coach.
- 19Short for Royal Academy of Music: a conservatory in London, founded in 1822 and one of Britain's oldest music schools.
- 20A figure in the Bible, the son of Hezron and the father of Amminadab.
- 21Short for radar-absorbent material: a coating or material that absorbs radar waves, used to make aircraft, ships and other objects harder to detect.
- 22In Mandaeism, one of the two ancestors of the second generation of humankind.
- 23Short for random-access machine: in computer science, an abstract model of a computer, with memory cells that can each be reached in one step, used to analyze algorithms.
- 24Short for reliability availability maintainability: three engineering properties describing how reliably a system works, how often it is ready for use, and how easily it can be maintained or repaired.
- 25Short for responsibility assignment matrix: in project management, a chart showing which people or roles are responsible for each task or deliverable.
- 26An anti-tank weapon used by the United States in the Korean War.
- 27Short for Rise Above Movement: an American white supremacist street-fighting group formed in Southern California in the late 2010s.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origins
Old English ramm ("ram") became Middle English ram, rom, ramme. It goes back to Proto-Germanic *rammaz ("ram"), which may itself come from *rammaz ("strong"). Cognates include German Ramm, Ramme, Dutch ram ("a male sheep"), and Saterland Frisian Rom. Possibly also akin are Icelandic rammur ("strong, sturdy"), Faroese ramur ("strong, competent"), Swedish ram ("strong, perfect"), and Danish ram ("sharp, acrid, rank").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts
- Old English ramm meant “ram” and developed into Middle English ram, rom, ramme. en.wiktionary.org
- Old English ramm derives from Proto-Germanic *rammaz. en.wiktionary.org
- The reconstructed noun may derive from *rammaz meaning “strong”. en.wiktionary.org
- German Ramm and Ramme are cognates. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch ram means “a male sheep” and is cognate with English ram. nl.wiktionary.org
- Saterland Frisian Rom is a cognate meaning “ram”. en.wiktionary.org
- The Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish adjectives, with the stated meanings, are possibly related. en.wiktionary.org
Middle English made the verb rammen out of the noun ram, and the modern verb descends from it. Old High German rammen is a similar word to compare.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
- Middle English rammen was formed from the noun ram. en.wiktionary.org
- The modern English verb descends from Middle English rammen. en.wiktionary.org
- Old High German rammen is a comparable word. en.wiktionary.org
This sense probably comes from Old Norse ramr, rammr, meaning strong, rank, or bitter, which goes back to Proto-Germanic *rammaz ("strong, overbearing, acrid, rank"). It may in the end be related to the word for the animal. Compare Scots ram ("a rank odor") and Middle English rammish ("rank, offensive in smell").
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- This sense probably derives from Old Norse ramr, rammr, meaning strong, rank, or bitter. en.wiktionary.org
- The Old Norse word derives from Proto-Germanic *rammaz, with the stated meanings. en.wiktionary.org
- This sense may ultimately be related to ram meaning the animal. en.wiktionary.org
- Scots ram means a rank odor. en.wiktionary.org
- Middle English rammish means rank or offensive in smell. en.wiktionary.org
From ram, the male sheep: Aries is pictured as a ram, and Derby County's nickname reflects links with the Derby Militia's ram mascot and regimental song.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- The astronomical and football names derive from the animal ram. en.wiktionary.org
- A ram is a male sheep. en.wiktionary.org
- Aries is represented as a ram. en.wikipedia.org
- Derby County's nickname reflects its links with the Derby Militia, its ram mascot and its regimental song. en.wikipedia.org
Borrowed from Hindi राम (Rām), from Sanskrit राम (Rāma), the name of the god.
Checked 3 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- Hindi राम (Rām) comes from Sanskrit राम (Rāma). en.wiktionary.org
- The name denotes the Hindu god Rama. en.wiktionary.org