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cram - 7 dictionary results

cram

  [kram] verb, crammed, cram⋅ming, noun
Use cram in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
2. to force or stuff (usually fol. by into, down, etc.).
3. to fill with or as with an excessive amount of food; overfeed.
4. Informal.
a. to prepare (a person), as for an examination, by having him or her memorize information within a short period of time.
b. to acquire knowledge of (a subject) by so preparing oneself.
5. Archaic. to tell lies to.
–verb (used without object)
6. to eat greedily or to excess.
7. to study for an examination by memorizing facts at the last minute.
8. to press or force accommodation in a room, vehicle, etc., beyond normal or comfortable capacity; crowd; jam: The whole team crammed into the bus.
–noun
9. Informal. the act of cramming for an examination.
10. a crammed state.
11. a dense crowd; throng.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME crammen, OE crammian to stuff, akin to crimman to put in

Related forms:
cram⋅ming⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. crowd, pack, squeeze, compress, overcrowd. 3. glut. 6. gorge.

Cram

  [kram]
–noun
Ralph Adams, 1863–1942, U.S. architect and writer.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To cram
cram   (krām)   
v.   crammed, cram·ming, crams

v.   tr.
  1. To force, press, or squeeze into an insufficient space; stuff.
  2. To fill too tightly.
    1. To gorge with food.
    2. To eat quickly and greedily.
  4. Informal To prepare (students) hastily for an impending examination.
v.   intr.
  1. To gorge oneself with food.
  2. Informal To study hastily for an impending examination: was up all night cramming for the history midterm.
n.  
  1. A group that has been crammed together; a crush.
  2. Informal Hasty study for an imminent examination.

[Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian; see ger- in Indo-European roots.]
cram'mer n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Cram

Cram\ (kr[a^]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crammed (kr[a^]md); p. pr. & vb. n. Cramming.] [AS. crammian to cram; akin to Icel. kremja to squeeze, bruise, Sw. krama to press. Cf. Cramp.]

1. To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to crowd; to fill to superfluity; as, to cram anything into a basket; to cram a room with people.

Their storehouses crammed with grain. --Shak.

He will cram his brass down our throats. --Swift.

2. To fill with food to satiety; to stuff.

Children would be freer from disease if they were not crammed so much as they are by fond mothers. --Locke.

Cram us with praise, and make us As fat as tame things. --Shak.

3. To put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination; as, a pupil is crammed by his tutor.

Cram

Cram\, v. i. 1. To eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff.

Gluttony . . . . Crams, and blasphemes his feeder. --Milton.

2. To make crude preparation for a special occasion, as an examination, by a hasty and extensive course of memorizing or study. [Colloq.]

Cram

Cram\, n. 1. The act of cramming.

2. Information hastily memorized; as, a cram from an examination. [Colloq.]

3. (Weaving) A warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : cram
Spanish: atestar, abarrotar, atiborrar,
German: vollstopfen,
Japanese: 詰め込む
More Translations »

cram 
O.E. crammian "press something into something else," from P.Gmc. base *kram-/*krem-. Meaning "study intensely for an exam" is British student slang first recorded 1803.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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