cram

present singular third person crams · participle present cramming · participle past crammed · past crammed

1. transitiveTo press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.

   to cram fruit into a basket; to cram a room with people

   4 more examples

   But you still need to check in with the Arch Linux community now and then to make sure that none of their crazy shit is going to be crammed down your throat the next update.

   This wrinkle in time, can't give it no credit, I thought about my space, and I really got me down, I got me so down, I got me a headache, My heart's crammed in my cranium, and it still knows how to pound.

   1994, Frank Black, “Headache”, in Teenager of the Year, performed by Frank Black, 4AD

   Are we to blame Livingstone for Tube overcrowding? In part, yes, but as Sir John Eliot had observed in 1955, while Chairman of the London Transport Executive: 'They're not crammed in. They cram themselves in.'

   2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 244

   The storm has passed when I arrive at Southampton Central, but more fun is to come. The station platforms and waiting rooms are crammed with people, many toting enormous amounts of baggage as they have just come off a cruise liner.

   2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55

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

   The boy crammed himself with cake

3. transitiveTo put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination.

   A pupil is crammed by his tutor.

4. intransitiveTo study hard; to swot.
5. intransitiveTo eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff oneself.
6. BritishdatedintransitiveslangTo lie; to intentionally not tell the truth.
7. BritishdatedslangtransitiveTo make (a person) believe false or exaggerated tales.

plural crams

1. countableuncountableThe act of cramming (forcing or stuffing something).

   But Billy Bunter was only the first in the field. As the news spread, there was a crowd, not to call it a cram, in No. 7 Study: […]

   1952, Frank Richards, Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius

2. countabledatedslanguncountableInformation hastily memorized.

   a cram from an examination

3. countableuncountablebusinessA warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed.
4. BritishcountabledatedslanguncountableA lie; a falsehood.

   Shut up, and don't tell crams.

   1894, Talbot Baines Reed, Tom, Dick, and Harry, page 107

   1 more example

   It is awful, an old un like that telling such crams as she do.

   1864, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas

   Synonyms: alternative fact, anti-fact, invention, bluff, bollocks, bullshit, canard, cap

5. uncountableA 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. countableuncountableA small friendship book with limited space for people to enter their information.

   Regular friendship books had a variety of variations, such as slams, crams, and decos.

   2017, Mark Duffett, Fan Identities and Practices in Context: Dedicated to Music, page 194

   1 more example

   Pen pals also make and pass around friendship books, slams and crams. In recent years, pen pal correspondence with prison inmates has gained acceptance on the Internet.

   2019, Manjit Bal, Lovingly Yours - Penpals

plural Crams

1. A surname.