ramming

Pluralrammings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of ram.

   Protesters were ramming the gate with a heavy log when the police arrived.

   Critics accused the majority of ramming the bill through the committee without debate.

   Note

   The m doubles before -ing, and the form covers more than blows: it also names seating a charge in a firearm's breech and packing earth by pounding. Its most useful figurative pattern takes through, for forcing something past resistance, as in ramming the bill through the committee; the physical use takes a plain object, as in ramming the gate with a log.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A collision in which one thing is driven hard into another.

   Investigators believe the ramming of the patrol boat by the trawler was accidental.

   After several rammings by coast guard vessels, the fishing fleet withdrew from the disputed waters.

   Note

   The noun keeps company with ships: the Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute in 1894 weighs accidental ramming from the side of the rammer and of the rammee alike. It is countable for separate incidents, as with the rammings of Royal Navy frigates by the Iceland Coast Guard, and by introduces the vessel that does the striking.

Showing meanings only. Show all 2