RAM (rammed, ramming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: rammed    , ramming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Ram mean? 

• RAM (noun)
  The noun RAM has 5 senses:

1. the most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible

2. (astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Aries

3. the first sign of the zodiac which the sun enters at the vernal equinox; the sun is in this sign from about March 21 to April 19

4. a tool for driving or forcing something by impact

5. uncastrated adult male sheep

  Familiarity information: RAM used as a noun is common.

• RAM (verb)
  The verb RAM has 4 senses:

1. strike or drive against with a heavy impact

2. force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically

3. undergo damage or destruction on impact

4. crowd or pack to capacity

  Familiarity information: RAM used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The most common computer memory which can be used by programs to perform necessary tasks while the computer is on; an integrated circuit memory chip allows information to be stored or accessed in any order and all storage locations are equally accessible

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

RAM; random-access memory; random access memory; random memory; read/write memory

Hypernyms ("RAM" is a kind of...):

volatile storage (computer storage that is erased when the power is turned off)

Meronyms (parts of "RAM"):

buffer; buffer storage; buffer store ((computer science) a part of RAM used for temporary storage of data that is waiting to be sent to a device; used to compensate for differences in the rate of flow of data between components of a computer system)

core; magnetic core ((computer science) a tiny ferrite toroid formerly used in a random access memory to store one bit of data; now superseded by semiconductor memories)

RAM disk ((computer science) a virtual drive that is created by setting aside part of the random-access memory to use as if it were a group of sectors)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "RAM"):

core memory; magnetic core memory ((computer science) a computer memory consisting of an array of magnetic cores; now superseded by semiconductor memories)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(astrology) a person who is born while the sun is in Aries

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Aries; Ram

Hypernyms ("Ram" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Domain category:

astrology; star divination (a pseudoscience claiming divination by the positions of the planets and sun and moon)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The first sign of the zodiac which the sun enters at the vernal equinox; the sun is in this sign from about March 21 to April 19

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

Aries; Aries the Ram; Ram

Instance hypernyms:

house; mansion; planetary house; sign; sign of the zodiac; star sign ((astrology) one of 12 equal areas into which the zodiac is divided)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A tool for driving or forcing something by impact

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("ram" is a kind of...):

tool (an implement used in the practice of a vocation)

Meronyms (parts of "ram"):

head (the striking part of a tool)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "ram"):

battering ram (a ram used to break down doors of fortified buildings)

rammer (a tool for driving something with force)

Derivation:

ram (force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically)

ram (strike or drive against with a heavy impact)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Uncastrated adult male sheep

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

ram; tup

Context example:

a British term is 'tup'

Hypernyms ("ram" is a kind of...):

sheep (woolly usually horned ruminant mammal related to the goat)

Meronyms (parts of "ram"):

horn (one of the bony outgrowths on the heads of certain ungulates)

• RAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they ram    ... he / she / it rams   
Past simple: rammed   
Past participle: rammed   
-ing form: ramming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Strike or drive against with a heavy impact

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

pound; ram; ram down

Context example:

pound on the door

Hypernyms (to "ram" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

ram (a tool for driving or forcing something by impact)

rammer (a tool for driving something with force)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

drive; force; ram

Context example:

He drives me mad

Hypernyms (to "ram" is one way to...):

thrust (push forcefully)

Verb group:

drive (compel somebody to do something, often against his own will or judgment)

drive (to compel or force or urge relentlessly or exert coercive pressure on, or motivate strongly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ram"):

toe; toenail (drive obliquely)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something PP

Also:

ram down (teach by drills and repetition)

Derivation:

ram (a tool for driving or forcing something by impact)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Undergo damage or destruction on impact

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

crash; ram

Context example:

The car crashed into the lamp post

Hypernyms (to "ram" is one way to...):

clash; collide (crash together with violent impact)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 4

Meaning:

Crowd or pack to capacity

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

chock up; cram; jam; jampack; ram; wad

Context example:

the theater was jampacked

Hypernyms (to "ram" is one way to...):

stuff (cram into a cavity)

Verb group:

cram (put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP
Somebody ----s something with something

Sentence example:

They ram the books into the box

 Context examples 

The material clumps together to form asteroids that ram into each other.

(Spitzer Telescope Witnesses Asteroid Smashup, NASA)

This strong link between ram pressure stripping and active black holes was not predicted and has never been reported before.

(Supermassive Black Holes Feed on Cosmic Jellyfish, ESO)

I took with me six cows and two bulls alive, with as many ewes and rams, intending to carry them into my own country, and propagate the breed.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

What characterized them was the clumsiness of too great strength—the clumsiness which the tyro betrays when he crushes butterflies with battering rams and hammers out vignettes with a war-club.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

And, 'fore God, you are a better man than I take you for if you can lay me on my back, mon garcon. I have won the ram more times than there are toes to my feet, and for seven long years I have found no man in the Company who could make my jerkin dusty.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Called ram pressure stripping, the process occurs when a galaxy, due to the pull of gravity, falls toward the dense center of a massive cluster of thousands of galaxies, which swarm around like a hive of bees.

(Hubble Sees Plunging Galaxy Losing Its Gas, NASA)

Then Buck took to rushing, as though for the throat, when, suddenly drawing back his head and curving in from the side, he would drive his shoulder at the shoulder of Spitz, as a ram by which to overthrow him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

With the same good fighting man he served at the Nile, where the men of his command sponged and rammed and trained until, when the last tricolour had come down, they hove up the sheet anchor and fell dead asleep upon the top of each other under the capstan bars.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The tentacles of jellyfish galaxies are produced in galaxy clusters by a process called ram pressure stripping.

(Supermassive Black Holes Feed on Cosmic Jellyfish, ESO)

That a proper quantity of this powder rammed into a hollow tube of brass or iron, according to its bigness, would drive a ball of iron or lead, with such violence and speed, as nothing was able to sustain its force.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)