ramp

plural ramps

1. An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
2. CanadaUSAn interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.

   Synonyms: slip road

3. A structure with an inclined surface made for stunts, as for jumping motorcycles or other vehicles.

   BMX riders go down a large ramp and jump over a big gap. This is called Big Air.

   2013, Aaron Carr, Cool Sports: BMX, page 14

4. aeronauticsA mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.
5. ball gamesA way of hitting a boundary by facing a cricket bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball; of the entirety done against pace.

   He hit three ramps in a row to push his team near the opponents total.

6. aeronauticsA large parking area in an airport for aircraft, for loading and unloading or for storage (see also apron and tarmac).
7. aeronauticsA 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.
8. hobbiesA construction used to do skating tricks, usually in the form of part of a pipe.
9. 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

   1 more example

   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

10. A speed bump.
11. slangAn act of violent robbery.
12. slangA 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

13. AustraliaslangA search, conducted by authorities, of a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
14. obsoleteA leap or bound.
15. A concave bend at the top or cap of a railing, wall, or coping; a romp.

present singular third person ramps · participle present ramping · participle past ramped · past ramped

1. 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

2. slangtransitiveTo swindle or rob violently.

   In English slang, to ramp was to swindle or rob.

   [2002, William Safire, w:The New York Times Magazine

3. AustraliaslangtransitiveTo search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
4. intransitiveobsoleteTo 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

   2 more examples

   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

   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

5. intransitiveobsoleteTo 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

   1 more example

   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

6. intransitiveobsoleteTo stand in a rampant position.

   And that lyon gaped wyde and came vpon hym raumppynge to haue slayne hym.

   And that lion gaped wide and came upon him ramping to have slain him.

   [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

7. ambitransitiveTo (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

   1 more example

   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

8. To adapt a piece of iron to the woodwork of a gate.

plural ramps

1. 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

   Synonyms: ramps, rams, ramson, ramsons, wild leek

2. AppalachiaobsoleteA 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

3. AppalachiaderogatoryA worthless person.

plural Ramps

1. A surname from German.