ram

«ram» in Mova's school dictionary: a male sheep, usually with big curled horns — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a ram, rams; RAM, computer memory); verb (ram, rams, rammed, ramming)

meaning for a pupil

1) A ram is a male sheep, usually with big curled horns. tree →

2) To ram something is to hit or push it very hard, often on purpose. tree →

3) To ram something into a place is to push it in with force, so it is squashed and tight. tree →

4) RAM (said «ram») is a computer's working memory, which holds what the computer is using right now. tree →

5) (old) A battering ram is a heavy log once used to smash castle doors. tree →

sense in the lessons

On the farm and in nature lessons a ram is the father sheep (the mother is a ewe, the baby a lamb). In stories and news, a car or ship rams another — a violent crash. In computing lessons RAM is measured in gigabytes. Phrases: «ram into», «ram something home» (make a point very clearly), «rammed» (UK slang, very crowded).

examples

• The ram lowered its horns and charged at the fence. tree →
• A ewe and a ram stood in the field with their lambs. tree →
• The thief rammed the gate with a stolen van. tree →
• He rammed all his clothes into the small bag. tree →
• The teacher rammed home the rule: always check your answer. tree →
• My laptop has eight gigabytes of RAM. tree →
• The soldiers used a battering ram to break down the door. tree →
• The shop was absolutely rammed on Saturday. (UK slang) tree →
• What would two do with one ram? tree →

note

Verb doubles the m: rammed, ramming. RAM stands for «random access memory» and is written in capitals; it is not the same as storage (the hard drive). Do not confuse ram (male sheep) with «lamb» (baby sheep) or «ewe» (female sheep). «Rammed» meaning very full is informal UK talk.

In the corpora

• The Chinese character for the eighth animal can mean goat, sheep or ram, so both are right.
• God told Abraham to offer his son Isaac, then stopped him and provided a ram instead.
• And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns.
• And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
• (32-15) two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «ram» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.