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Origin and history of ram

ram(n.)

Old English ramm "male sheep," also "battering ram, instrument for crushing or driving by impact," and the zodiac sign; earlier rom "male sheep," a West Germanic word (cognates: Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Dutch, Old High German ram), of unknown origin. Perhaps [Klein] connected with Old Norse rammr "strong," Old Church Slavonic ramenu "impetuous, violent."

RAM(n.)

1957, acronym for random access memory (computerese).

ram(v.)

c. 1300, "to beat with a heavy implement, make the ground firm by tamping," from ram (n.). By 1864 as "dash violently against, strike with great force." Related: Rammed; ramming.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to ram

ramjet(n.)

type of jet engine, 1942, from ram (v.) + jet (n.). So called because it uses the engine's forward motion as the sole means to compress air.

rammer(n.)

"instrument for driving by impact," mid-15c., agent noun from ram (v.).

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More to explore

force
c. 1300, "physical strength," from Old French force "force, strength; courage, fortitude; violence, power, compulsion" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *fortia (source also of Old Spanish forzo, Spanish fuerza, Italian forza), noun use of neuter plural of Latin fortis "strong, mighty; f
drive
Old English drifan "to compel or urge to move, impel in some direction or manner; to hunt (deer), pursue; to rush against" (class I strong verb; past tense draf, past participle drifen), from Proto-Germanic *dreibanan (source also of Old Frisian driva "I lead, impel, drive (away)
jam
"to press tightly" (trans.), 1719; "to become wedged" (intrans.), 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of Middle English cham "to bite upon something; gnash the teeth" (late 14c.; see champ (v.)). Of a malfunction in the moving parts of machinery by 1851. Sense of "cause in
hurt
also "to stumble (into), bump into; charge against, rush, crash into; knock (things) together," from Old French hurter "to ram...Perhaps from Frankish *hurt "ram" (source also of Middle High German hurten "run at, collide," Old Norse hrutr "ram," Middle...
compile
bundle together, heap up;" hence "to pack up and carry off," from com "with, together" (see com-) + pilare "to compress, ram...
rumbustious
an arbitrary formation, one of what Farmer describes as "A class of colloquialisms compounded with an intensive prefix" (ram...
wolfram
It looks like "wolf-cream" (from rahm "cream"), but the second element might be Middle High German ram (German Rahm) "dirty...
head
Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Ha
mar
Middle English merren "to deface, disfigure; impair in form or substance" (early 13c.), from Old English merran (Anglian), mierran (West Saxon) "to waste, spoil," from Proto-Germanic *marzjan (source also of Old Frisian meria, Old High German marren "to hinder, obstruct," Gothic
arm
[upper limb of the human body], Middle English arm, from Old English earm, from Proto-Germanic *armaz (source also of Old Saxon, Danish, Swedish, Middle Dutch, German arm, Old Norse armr, Old Frisian erm), from PIE root *ar- "to fit together" (source also of Sanskrit irmah "arm,"

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