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.
Meanings
An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
(Canada, US) An interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.
A structure with an inclined surface made for stunts, as for jumping motorcycles or other vehicles.
A mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.
A way of hitting a boundary by facing the bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball. 100% of it done against pace.
He hit three ramps in a row to push his team near the opponents total.
A large parking area in an airport for aircraft, for loading and unloading or for storage (see also apron and tarmac).
A surface inside the air intake of a supersonic aircraft which adjusts in position to allow for efficient shock wave compression of incoming air at a wide range of different Mach numbers.
A construction used to do skating tricks, usually in the form of part of a pipe.
A scale of values.
We have created a volume ramp. Play the section in the Timeline and listen to the volume change. 2013, Sam Kauffmann, Ashley Kennedy, Avid Editing: A Guide for Beginning and Intermediate Users, page 40:
The RGB model uses the color component of light sources in order to produce more realistic and pleasant results. Internal color representations are always based on a palette-based color ramp. 2003, Julio Sanchez, Maria P. Canton, The PC Graphics Handbook, page 915:
A speed bump.
(slang) An act of violent robbery.
(slang) A deliberate swindle or fraud.
We are surely not meant to think of the sense of “ramp” (from 1819) that means a deliberate swindle or fraud, such as announcing that you have done more tests than you actually have because a third were just posted out. 1819, Steven Poole, Steven Poole's word of the week:
(Australia, slang) A search, conducted by authorities, of a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
(obsolete) A leap or bound.
A concave bend at the top or cap of a railing, wall, or coping; a romp.
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.
Meanings
To behave violently; to rage.
Mick raged and ramped at the barred door till his voice failed, 1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 196:
(slang, transitive) To swindle or rob violently.
In English slang, to ramp was to swindle or rob. [2002, William Safire, w:The New York Times Magazine:
(Australia, slang, transitive) To search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
(intransitive, obsolete) To spring; to leap; to bound, rear, or prance; to move swiftly or violently.
I've seen a ramping equestrian statue of General St. Clare on the Embankment. 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:
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. 1950, C[live] S[taples] Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe […], London: Geoffrey Bles, →OCLC:
Their bridles they would champe, / And trampling the fine element would fiercely rampe. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 28:
(intransitive, obsolete) To climb, like a plant; to creep up.
With claspers and tendrils, they [plants] catch hold, […] and so ramping upon trees, […]they mount up to a great height. 1691, John Ray, The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC:
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: […] 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:
(intransitive, obsolete) To stand in a rampant position.
And that lyon gaped wyde and came vpon hym raumppynge to haue slayne hym. [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:
(ambitransitive) To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.
The forces are ramped down gradually to ensure that element removal has a smooth effect on the model. 2011, Sheng Liu, Yong Liu, Modeling and Simulation for Microelectronic Packaging Assembly:
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. 2007, Sean Meyn, Control Techniques for Complex Networks, page 285:
To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.
ru неи́стовствовать (behave violently; rage) · ru стоя́ть на за́дних ла́пах (stand in a rampant position) · fi riehua (behave violently; rage) · fr ramper (stand in a rampant position) · ru бушева́ть (behave violently; rage)
Any of species Allium tricoccum of plants related to the onion; a wild leek.
A ramp is a potently flavored wild scallion, a vegetable with staying power. 2006, Su Clauson-Wicker, Off the Beaten Path West Virginia, volume 6, page 61:
(Appalachia, obsolete) A promiscuous man or woman.
And yet in the very next Canto she appears an arrant Ramp and a Tomrigg;[…] 1728, John Dennis, Remarks on Mr. Pope's Rape of the lock. In several letters to a friend. With a preface, occasion'd by the late Treatise on the profound, and the Dunciad., London: J. Roberts, page 16:
fr poireau sauvage (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion) · es puerro salvaje (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion) · fr oignon sauvage (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion) · ru черемша́ кана́дская (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion) · fr ail des bois (American plant, Allium tricoccum, related to the onion)