ramp
pronunciation
How to pronounce ramp in British English:
UK [ræmp]
How to pronounce ramp in American English:
US [ræmp]
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- Noun:
- an inclined surface or roadway that moves traffic from one level to another
- North American perennial having a slender bulb and whitish flowers
- a movable staircase that passengers use to board or leave an aircraft
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- Verb:
- behave violently, as if in state of a great anger
- furnish with a ramp
- be rampant
- creep up -- used especially of plants
- stand with arms or forelegs raised, as if menacing
Word Origin
- ramp
- ramp: [18] A ramp is etymologically something you ‘climb’ up. The word was borrowed from French rampe, a derivative of the verb ramper ‘climb’, hence ‘slope’. This goes back to a Frankish *rampōn, and was borrowed into English in the 13th century as ramp. It now survives mainly in the form of its present participle, rampant [14], which preserves the sense ‘rearing up’. Rampage [18] may be a derivative.
- ramp (n.1)
- 1778, "slope," from French rampe, back-formation from Old French verb ramper "to climb, scale, mount;" see ramp (v.). Meaning "road on or off a major highway" is from 1952, American English.
- ramp (n.2)
- "rude, boisterous girl or woman," mid-15c., perhaps from ramp (v.). Compare romp in Johnson's Dictionary (1755): "a rude, awkward, boisterous, untaught girl."
- ramp (v.)
- c. 1300, "to climb; to stand on the hind legs" (of animals), from Old French ramper "to climb, scale, mount" (12c., in Modern French "to creep, crawl"), perhaps from Frankish *rampon "to contract oneself" (compare Old High German rimpfan "to wrinkle," Old English hrimpan "to fold, wrinkle"), via notion of the bodily contraction involved in climbing [Klein], from Proto-Germanic *hrimp- "to contract oneself." Related: Ramped; ramping.
Example
- 1. A downtown parking garage is being fitted with a water tank beneath its entrance ramp .
- 2. This ramp , coated with mud and water , eased the displacement of the blocks which were pushed ( or pulled ) into place .
- 3. He then asked me how much I had to ramp up sales to achieve my three-year goal .
- 4. I used a color ramp from black to blue to white , with each line 's color depending on its weight .
- 5. His key invention was a ramp designed for each parking space that allowed every viewer to see the screen ( as shown in this diagram from an august 1933 edition of popular science ) .