cram

Verb

1. (transitive) To press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.
2. (transitive) To fill with food to satiety; to stuff.
3. (transitive) To put hastily through an extensive course of memorizing or study, as in preparation for an examination.
4. (intransitive) To study hard; to swot.
5. (intransitive) To eat greedily, and to satiety; to stuff oneself.
6. (British, dated, intransitive, slang) To lie; to intentionally not tell the truth.
7. (British, dated, slang, transitive) To make (a person) believe false or exaggerated tales.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) The act of cramming (forcing or stuffing something).
2. (countable, dated, slang, uncountable) Information hastily memorized.
3. (countable, uncountable) A warp having more than two threads passing through each dent or split of the reed.
4. (British, countable, dated, slang, uncountable) A lie; a falsehood.
5. (uncountable) 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. (countable, uncountable) A small friendship book with limited space for people to enter their information.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɹæm/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: crammen

Inherited from Old English: crammian

Cognate with Old English: crimman

Cognate with Icelandic: kremja

In summary

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”).

Synonyms

stuff

jam

crowd

ram

🐏

squeeze

fill

pack

mug up

swot up

compress

bone up

grind away

get up

bone

🦴

drum

🥁

swot

thrust

wad

fill up

press

stow

clutter

jampack

tamp

pack in

bolt

learn

devour

throng

chock up

crush

gobble

study

push

overcrowd

ea

line

glut oneself

drive into

coach

drive in

dough

bruise

dose

dip

clog

dig into

dig

clap

👏

bray

Translations

bourrer

bachoter

potasser

gaver

stipare

fourrer

embutir

atiborrar

stopfen

vollstopfen

atestar

emmancher

bûcher

hineinstopfen

mästen