Ramilie 
under Villeroi. in ]70(i: chiefly used attribu- 
tively. The Ramilie hat was a form of cocked hut worn 
in the time of George I. Its peculiarity consisted in the 
adjustment of the hat-brim apparently the one in which 
tile three cocks are nearly equal in length and similar in 
arrangement. The Ramilie wig, worn as late as the time 
of George III., had a long, gradually diminishing plait, 
called the Ramilie plait or tail, with a very large bow at 
the top and a smaller one at the bottom. 
A peculiar-shaped hat was known as the " Ramilie cock. " 
X. and <?., etli ser., XII. 35. 
While in this country, the natural hair tied in a pig- 
tail and powdered passed for as good as the Jtamilie wig 
and Ramilie tail. S. DoweU, Taxes in England, III. 290. 
ramiparous (ra-mip'a-rus), a. [< L. ramiis, 
a branch, + faren, produce.] Producing 
branches. 
raiuisht, a. [A corruption of ramagei.] Same 
as ramagei. 
The plaintiff had declared for a ramish hawk, which is 
a hawk living inter ramos (amongst the boughs), and by 
consequence fenc naturae. 
Nelson, Laws Cone. Game, p. 151. (Encyc. Diet.) 
Ramism (ra'mizm), . [< Ramus (see def.) + 
-ism.] The logical doctrine of Petrus Eamus, 
or Pierre de la Ram6e (born in Picardy, 1515 ; 
massacred on St. Bartholomew's day, 1572). The 
doctrine was that of Aristotle, with the omission of the 
more difficult and metaphysical parts, and with a lew ad- 
ditions drawn from rhetoric and from Platonic sources 
(such as the doctrine of dichotomy). It was characterized 
by simplicity and good sense, and was set forth with some 
literary skill. It attracted considerable attention, owing to 
the unbounded hostility to Aristotle professed by Ramus, 
and was taught for many years in the Scottish universi- 
ties and at Cambridge. John Milton wrote a Ramist logic. 
In England, Cambridge alone, always disposed to reject 
the authority of Aristotle, and generally more open to new 
ideas than the sister university, was a stronghold of Ra- 
mi',,1. R. Adamson, Encyc. Brit., XIV. 803. 
Ramist (ra'mist), n. and a. [< F. ramiste, a Ra- 
mist, pertaining to Ramus, < Ramus (see Sa- 
mfem).] I. . A follower of Peter Ramus. See 
Ramism. The main position of Ramus was that "every- 
thing that Aristotle taught was false," but there was no- 
thing original in his writings. He introduced into logic 
the dilemma, which had always been taught as a part of 
rhetoric, to which he greatly inclined. 
II, a. Pertaining to Ramus or Ramism; char- 
acterized by or characteristic of Ramism. 
Ramist consonants (French consonnes ramistes), the let- 
ters^ and v: so called by French writers, because Ramus 
was the first, in his grammatical writings, to distinguish 
them as consonants from the vowels t and u. 
ram-line (ram'lin), n. [< rain (f) (see ramed) 
+ HneV.] 1. In sliip-buildiiig, a small rope or 
line used for setting the frames fair, assisting 
in forming the sheer of the ship, or for other 
similar purposes. 2. In s/xtr-makinij, a line 
used to make a straight middle Hue on a spar. 
rammed (ranul), a. [Pp. of ram 2 , v.] Exces- 
sive. Halliaell. [Prov. Eng.] 
rammekint, " See ramekin. 
rammel (vain'el), . [Also ramell, ramel; < late 
ME. ramel, rubbish, < OF. ramaille, ramiltc, usu- 
ally in pi. raiiittilles, ramillcs, Y.raniilles, branch- 
es, twigs, < LL. ramale, usually in pi. ramalia, 
branches, twigs, sticks, < L. ramus, a branch: 
see ramus.] 1. Refuse wood, as of twigs or 
small branches, or decayed woody matter. 
Rubbish, rammel, and broken stones. Holland. 
2. Rubbish, especially bricklayers' rubbish. 
The Pictes ridding away the earth and ramell wherewith 
it was closed up. 
Holinshed, Hist. Scot, M. b, col. 1, c. (Sares.) 
[Obsolete or prov. Eng. in both senses.] 
rammelt (ram'el), r. i. [< rammel, n.] To turn 
to rubbish ; molder. 
Franare [It.], ... to rammell or moulder in pieces, as 
sometimes mud walles or 
great masses of stone will 
doe of themselves. 
Florio (1611), p. 195. 
rammelsbergite 
(ram'elz-berg-it), 11. 
[After K. F. Bam- 
melsberg (born 1813), 
a German chemist.] 
An arsenide of nick- 
el, like chloanthite 
in composition, but 
crystallizing in the 
orthorhombic sys- 
tem. 
rammel-woodt 
(ram 'el -wild), n. 
Natural eopsewood. 
There growyth many 
allers and other ramett- 
wood, which servethe 
muche for the buyldinge 
of suehe simdl houses. 
Raimners. 
a, wooden rammer, with iron band or 
MS. Cotton. Calif,, B.viii. 3 tt'<S?SS7*,f%Z. 
M'-sti'MOS, CtC. 
40 r. ii 
rammer (ram'tr), H. (_= <; - rummer: as nun-, 
v., + -(/I' 1 .] An instrument for ramming, or 
driving l>y impact. The pavers' rammer, used in set- 
tling stones or compacting earth, is a heavy mass of iron- 
bound wood, (if tapering form, with handles at the top 
and on one or hoth sides. (See beetle^, 1.) Founders' ram- 
mers are made in different ways, for various purposes, as 
forcing the sand into the pattern, solidify ing it in the flask, 
etc. A gunners' rammer Is a staff with a cylindrical head, 
for driving home the charge in a cannon, usually having 
for field-artillery a swab (called a sponge) at the other end 
for cleaning out the gun after firing. Ramrods, and some 
kinds of ram, as that of a ship of war, are also somethm-s 
called rammers. See rantf, 2, and ramrod ; see also cut in 
preceding column, and cut under gun carriage. 
The earth is to bee wel driven and beaten downe close 
with a rammer, that it may be fast about the roots. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 11. 
rammish 1 (ram'ish), a. [< ME. rammish; < raw 1 
+ -ish 1 .] Resembling or characteristic of a 
ram; rammy; strong-scented; hence, coarse; 
lewd; lascivious: used like goatish in the same 
sense. Compare tiirrine. 
For al the world, they st ink as a goot : 
Her savour is so rammish and so hoot, 
That though a man from hem a myle be, 
The savour wol infecte him, trusteth me. 
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 834. 
Whose father being a mmmixh ploughman, himself a 
perfumed gentleman. Middleton, Phoenix, i. '. 
rammish 2 ! (ram'ish), a. Same as ramage 1 . 
rammishness (rain'ish-nes), . [< rammish* + 
-ness.] The state or character of being ram- 
mish. 
rammy (ram'i), a. [< rum 1 + -y l .~\ Like a ram ; 
rammish. 
Galen takes exception at mutton, but without question 
he means that rammy mutton which is in Turkic and Asia 
Minor. Burton, Anat. of Mel., ii. 2. 
ramollescence (ram-o-les'ens), n. [< F. r<i- 
mollir, soften, refl. become soft (< re-, again, + 
amollir, soften: see amollish), + -escence. Cf. 
L. remollescere, become soft again, become 
soft.] A softening or mollifying; mollification. 
Imp. Diet. [Rare.] 
ramollissement (ra-mo-les'mou), . [< F. ra- 
mollissemetit, < rtnnollir, soften, become soft: 
see ramollescence.] In patliol., a morbid condi- 
tion of some part of the body, as the brain or 
the liver, in which it becomes softened. 
ramoon (ra-mou'), . [< Sp. ramon, the top of 
branches cut as food for sheep in siiowy wea- 
ther (= F. ramon, a broom of twigs or branches ), 
< ramo, < L. ramus, a branch: see ramus. ] A 
low West Indian tree, Tropliis Americana, be- 
longing to the mulberry tribe, with milky juice 
and drupe-like fruit. Its leaves and twigs are 
sometimes fed to cattle. 
ramose (ra'mos), a. [< L. ramosus, full of 
branches: see ra mous.] 1 . Same as ramous. 2. 
In 007. : () Branching; much-branched; rami- 
fying frequently, as corals and other zoophytes ; 
ramous. (6) Resembling a branch or branches ; 
shooting out like a branch: as, the ramose spines 
of some shells Ramose antennSB, antenna; in which 
the joints are rather long, a few of them emitting from 
the base or apex generally on the outer side, rarely on 
both sides long cylindrical processes or branches. 
ramosely (ra'mos-li), adr. In a ramose or 
branching manner. H. C. Wood, Fresh- Water 
Algre, p. 21. 
ramous (ra'mus), a. [< F. rameux = Pr. ra- 
mos = Sp. Pg. It. ramoxo, < L. ramosus, full 
of branches, < ramus, a branch: see ramus.] 
Branched or branchy, or full of branches ; hav- 
ing branches, or divisions of the character of 
branches; ramifying; ramose. 
Which vast contraction and expansion seems unintelli- 
gible, by feigning the particles nf air to be springy and 
ramous. Newton, Opticks, iii. query 31. 
A rammis efflorescence of a fine white spar found hang- 
ing from a crust of like spar, at the top of an old wrought 
cavern. Woodward, Fossils. 
ramp (ramp), r. [Also romp (now partly differ- 
enced in use : see romp) ; < ME. rampen, < OF. 
ramper, raumper, creep, crawl, also climb, F. 
ramper, creep, crawl, cringe (cf. rampe, a flight 
of stairs ( > G. rampe), = It. ramparc, clutch (ram- 
pa, a claw, a grip, rampo, a grappling-iron), 
a nasalized form of "rappare, in comp. ar-rap- 
pare, = Pr. Sp. Pg. rapar, snatch up, carry off, 
seize upon ; of Teut. origin : LG. rappen, rapen, 
snatch up hastily; Bavar. dial, rampfen, G. 
raffen, snatch, etc.: see rap 2 , rape 2 , raff.] I. 
intrans. 1. To rise by climbing or shooting up, 
as a plant ; run or grow up rapidly ; spring up 
in growth. 
Some Sorts of Plants ... are either endued with a 
Faculty of twining about others that are near, or else fur 
nish'd with ('Jaspers and Tendrils, whereby . . . they 
catch Hold of them, and so ramping upon Trees, Shrubs, 
Hedges ur Poles, they mount up to a great Height. 
Jtay, Works of Creation, p. 111. 
rampacious 
TIVI.-S of every sort- 
On three sides, slender, spiralling, luni,' iiml short; 
Each grew as it contrived, the puphir ramped, 
The ng-tree reared itself. Browning, Sordello. 
2. To rise for a leap or in leaping, as a wild 
beast ; rear or spring up ; prepare for or make 
a spring; jump violently. See ra mpunt. 
Tho, rearing up his former feete on hight, 
He rampt upon him with his ravenous pawes. 
Spenser, F. (?., VI. xii. 29. 
Surely the Prelates would have Saint Paul's words rampe 
one over another, as they use to clime into their Livings 
and Bishopricks. Milton, On L'ef. of Humb. Remonst. 
Thither I climb'd at dawn 
And stood by her garden-gate ; 
A lion ramps at the top, 
He is claspt by a passion-flower. 
Tennyson, Maud, xiv. 1. 
3. To move with violent leaps or starts; jump 
or dash about ; hence, to act passionately or 
violently; rage; storm; behave with insolence. 
Whan she comth hoom, she rampeth in my face, 
And cryeth, "False coward, wreek thy wyf." 
Chaucer, Prol. to Monk's Tale, 1. 18. 
The Gov, hearing y tumulte, sent to quiet it, but he 
ramped more like a furious beast then a man. 
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 174. 
For the East I-ynn (which is our river) was ramping 
and roaring frightfully. 
Ii. D. Bladcmore, Lorna Dooue, xh iii. 
4. To spring about or along gaily ; frolic ; gam- 
bol ; flirt ; romp. See romp. 
Good wenches would not so rampe abrode ydelly. 
Udatt, Roister Doister, ii. 4. 
Then the wild Ixwir, being so stout and strong, . . . 
Thrashed down the trees as he ramped him along. 
Jovial Hunter of Bromsgrote (Child's Ballads, VIII. 146). 
Peace, you foul ramping Jade ! 
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iv. 3. 
[This verb, although still employed in litera- 
ture, is not common in colloquial use.] 
II. trans. 1. To hustle; rob with violence. 
[Thieves' slang.] 2. To bend upward, as a 
piece of iron, to adapt it to the woodwork of a 
gate or the like. Ualliwell. 
Mr. R. Phipps Is Introducing at Campbell Road, Bow, 
Messrs. Parkin and Webb's patent ramped wheel tire. 
The Engineer, LXVIII. 535. 
To ramp and reavet, to get (anything) by fair means 
or foul. Halliwell. 
ramp (ramp), n. [< ME. rampe; < ramp, r. 
Cf. romp, n.] 1. A leap; a spring; a bound. 
[Obsolete or archaic.] 
The bold Ascalonlte 
Fled from his lion ramp. MMm, 8. A., L 139. 
2. A rising passage or road; specifically {milit.), 
a gradual slope or ascent from the interior 
level of a fortification to the general level be- 
hind the parapet. 
The ascent is by easy ramps. 
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 400. 
We crossed literallya ramp of dead bodies loosely cov- 
ered with earth. W. U. RusseU, Diary in India, I. 312. 
3. In masonry and carp., a concave bend or 
slope in the cap or upper member of any piece 
of ascending or descending workmanship, as 
in the coping of a wall; the concave sweep 
that connects the higher and lower parts of a 
railing at a half- or quarter-pace. 4. In arch., 
etc., any slope or inclined plane, particularly 
an inclined plane affording communication 
between a higher and a lower level. 
In some parts [of the temple at Khorsabad] even the 
parapet of the ramp still remains in situ. 
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., 1. 164. 
5f. A coarse, frolicsome woman; a jade; a 
romp. 
Nay, fy on thee, thou rampe, thou ryg, with al that take 
thy part. Bp. Still, Gammer Gurton's Needle, iii. 3. 
Although that she were a lusty bouncing rampe, some- 
what like Gallimetta, or Maid Marian. G. Harvey. 
The bouncing ramp, that roaring girl my mistress. 
Midaletan and DeWcer, Roaring Girl, iii. 3. 
6. The garden rampion, or its root. 7t. A 
highwayman ; a robber. Halliwell. 8. In the 
game of pin-pool, a stroke by which all the 
pins but the center one are knocked down. 
A player making a ramp at any stage of the 
game wins the pool. Ramp and twist, in carp., 
any line that rises and winds simultaneously, 
rampt (ramp), a. [< ramp, i:] Ramping; leap- 
ing; furiously swift or rushing. 
Ride out, ride out, ye ramp rider ! 
Your steed 's baith stout and strang. 
The Broom of Cowdenknows (Child's Ballads, IV. 46). 
rampacious (rwn-pft'ihns), a. [A var. of ?- 
/Hii/ronx, prob. confused with rapacious.] Same 
as rauijMti/i'tiiis. [Colloq.] 
