n.
- a sloping surface joining two different levels.
▸a movable set of steps for entering or leaving an aircraft.
▸N. Amer. an inclined slip road leading to or from a main road or motorway.
▸North American term for catwalk (in sense 1).
- Brit. a transverse ridge in a road to control the speed of vehicles.
- an upward bend in a stair rail.
- an electrical waveform in which the voltage increases or decreases linearly with time.
- Brit. informal a swindle involving a fraudulent increase of the price of a share.
v.
- provide with a ramp.
- Brit. drive up the price of (a company's shares) in order to gain a financial advantage.
▸
(often ramp something up)
increase the level or amount of (something) sharply.
- (of an electrical waveform) increase or decrease in voltage linearly with time.
- archaic (of an animal) rear up on its hind legs.
▸rush about violently.
- chiefly dialect (of a plant) grow or climb luxuriantly.
Etymology
ME (as v. in the sense ‘rear up’: from OFr. ramper ‘creep, crawl’, of unknown origin.