ramp
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɹæmp/
rhymes: -æmp
Forms: form: ramps
form: ramping
form: ramped
form: ramped
Etymology: From French rampe, from Middle French rampe, deverbal of ramper, from Old French ramper (“to crawl, climb, scale up”), from Frankish *hrampōn (“to contract oneself, wrinkle, rumple, crumple, curve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrimpaną (“to shrivel, shrink”). Cognate with German Rampf (“retraction, curvature, shrinkage, spasm”). Doublet of romp.
Akin also to Old English ġehrimpan (“to wrinkle, rimple, rumple”), Old High German rimpfan (German rümpfen (“to wrinkle up”)). Compare Danish rimpe (“to fold" (archaic), "to baste”), Icelandic rimpa. More at rimple.
Senses: examples: text: Mick raged and ramped at the barred door till his voice failed,
ref: 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 196:
glosses: To behave violently; to rage.
examples: text: In English slang, to ramp was to swindle or rob.
ref: [2002, William Safire, w:The New York Times Magazine:
glosses: To swindle or rob violently.
glosses: To search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
examples: text: Their bridles they would champe, / And trampling the fine element would fiercely rampe.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:
text: I've seen a ramping equestrian statue of General St. Clare on the Embankment.
ref: 1911 January 7, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, “The Sign of the Broken Sword”, in The Innocence of Father Brown, London; New York, N.Y.: Cassell and Company, published 1911, →OCLC:
text: The shield was the colour of silver and across it there ramped a red lion, as bright as a ripe strawberry at the moment when you pick it.
ref: 1950, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe […], London: Geoffrey Bles, →OCLC:
glosses: To spring; to leap; to bound, rear, or prance; to move swiftly or violently.
examples: text: Lathyrus ſylveſtris flore luteo. Tare everlaſting. This ramping vvilde Vetch or Tare as the country people call it, becauſe it is the moſt pernicious herbe that can grovv on the earth, for corne or any other good herbe that it ſhall grovv by, killing and ſtrangling them: […]
ref: 1640, John Parkinson, “Lathyrus. The Great Wilde Cicheling or Pease Everlasting.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, →OCLC, page 1062:
text: With claspers and tendrils, they [plants] catch hold, […] and so ramping upon trees, […]they mount up to a great height.
ref: 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To climb, like a plant; to creep up.
examples: text: And that lyon gaped wyde and came vpon hym raumppynge to haue slayne hym.
ref: [1470–1485 (date produced), Thomas Malory, “Capitulum i”, in [Le Morte Darthur], book IX (in Middle English), [London: […] by William Caxton], published 31 July 1485, →OCLC; republished as H[einrich] Oskar Sommer, editor, Le Morte Darthur […], London: David Nutt, […], 1889, →OCLC:
english: And that lion gaped wide and came upon him ramping to have slain him.
translation: And that lion gaped wide and came upon him ramping to have slain him.
bold_translation_offsets: 43
50
glosses: To stand in a rampant position.
examples: text: If Q(t)lt;qᵖ then primary generation ramps up at maximal rate, subject to the constraint that Q(t) does not exceed this threshold.
ref: 2007, Sean Meyn, Control Techniques for Complex Networks, page 285:
text: The forces are ramped down gradually to ensure that element removal has a smooth effect on the model.
ref: 2011, Sheng Liu, Yong Liu, Modeling and Simulation for Microelectronic Packaging Assembly:
glosses: To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.
glosses: To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.
Derived terms: ramp along
ramper
ramp up
Related terms: rampage
rampant