ramp

noun

1. An inclined surface that connects two levels; an incline.
2. (Canada, US)An interchange, a road that connects a freeway to a surface street or another freeway.
3. A structure with an inclined surface made for stunts, as for jumping motorcycles or other vehicles.
4. A mobile staircase that is attached to the doors of an aircraft at an airport.
5. A way of hitting a boundary by facing the bat face front and pushing with force to launch the ball. 100% of it done against pace.

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

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

   “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.”

   “We have created a volume ramp. Play the section in the Timeline and listen to the volume change.”

10. A speed bump.
11. (slang)An act of violent robbery.
12. (slang)A 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.”

13. (Australia, slang)A search, conducted by authorities, of a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
14. (obsolete)A leap or bound.
15. A concave bend at the top or cap of a railing, wall, or coping; a romp.
16. 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.”

17. (Appalachia, obsolete)A promiscuous man or woman.

    “And yet in the very next Canto she appears an arrant Ramp and a Tomrigg;[…]”

18. (Appalachia, derogatory)A worthless person.

verb

1. To behave violently; to rage.

   “Mick raged and ramped at the barred door till his voice failed,”

2. (slang, transitive)To swindle or rob violently.

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

3. (Australia, slang, transitive)To search a prisoner or a prisoner's cell.
4. (intransitive, obsolete)To spring; to leap; to bound, rear, or prance; to move swiftly or violently.

   “Their bridles they would champe, / And trampling the fine element would fiercely rampe.”

   “I've seen a ramping equestrian statue of General St. Clare on the Embankment.”

   “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.”

5. (intransitive, obsolete)To climb, like a plant; to creep up.

   “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: […]”

   “With claspers and tendrils, they [plants] catch hold, […] and so ramping upon trees, […]they mount up to a great height.”

6. (intransitive, obsolete)To stand in a rampant position.

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

7. (ambitransitive)To (cause to) change value, often at a steady rate.

   “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.”

   “The forces are ramped down gradually to ensure that element removal has a smooth effect on the model.”

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

name

1. A surname from German.