cram

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.
  2. To fill with food to satiety; to stuff.
  3. To put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination.
  4. To study hard; to swot.
  5. To eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff oneself.
  6. To lie; to intentionally not tell the truth.
  7. To make (a person) believe false or exaggerated tales.
noun
  1. The act of cramming (forcing or stuffing something).
  2. Information hastily memorized.
  3. A warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed.
  4. A lie; a falsehood.
  5. A mathematical board game in which players take turns placing dominoes horizontally or vertically until no more can be placed, the loser being the player who cannot continue.
  6. A small friendship book with limited space for people to enter their information.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/kɹæm/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cram.wav

Word forms

cram crams cramming crammed

Etymology

From Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian (“to cram; stuff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krammōn, from Proto-Germanic *krammōną, a secondary verb derived from *krimmaną (“to stuff”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to assemble; collect; gather”). Compare Old English crimman (“to cram; stuff; insert; press; bruise”), Icelandic kremja (“to squeeze; crush; bruise”).

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.