rampant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɹæm.pənt/
rhymes: -æmpənt
Forms: form: more rampant
form: most rampant
form: rampaunt
Etymology: From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).
Alternatively from Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *rampōn, *hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic *hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”).
Senses: examples: text: The Vienna riding school displays splendid rampant movement.
qualifier: originally
glosses: Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.
examples: text: ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’
ref: 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:
text: little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant
ref: 1892, Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved:
text: The crest consists of a demi-lion rampant gules (red) holding between its paws a wheel argent similar to those included in the arms.
ref: 1957 February 24, “B.T.C. Armorial Bearings”, in Railway Magazine, page 81:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
topics: architecture
glosses: Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other, or a vault whose two abutments are located on an inclined plane.
examples: text: Weeds are rampant in any neglected garden.
text: Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.
ref: 2012 March 24, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, page 87:
text: The craze for -ization — a word first employed by Charles Dickens in “Our Mutual Friend” — has been around for a very long time. The patron saint of rampant suffixization is Thomas Nashe, author of the 1593 pamphlet “Christ’s Tears Over Jerusalem.” His ebullient creations included myrmidonize, unmortalize, anthropophagize, retranquillize, cabbalize, palpabrize, superficialize and citizenize — not to mention collachrymate, assertionate and intercessionate.
ref: 2012 October 28, Helen Sword, “Mutant Verbs”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Apr 2024, Draft:
text: In contrast to the despair of his opposite number, it was a day of delight for new City boss Manuel Pellegrini as he watched the rampant Blues make a powerful statement about their Premier League ambitions.
ref: 2013 September 22, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.
examples: text: There was rampant corruption in the city.
glosses: Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.
Hyponyms: topics: heraldry
hobbies
nobility
monarchy
politics
government
lifestyle
word: morné
Derived terms: counter-rampant
rampant gardant
rampantly
rampant regardant
rampant sejant
sejant rampant
run rampant
Related terms: ramp
rampage