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   ramp

   /ramp/

   noun

   • 1. a sloping surface joining two different levels, as at the entrance or between floors of a building: "a wheelchair ramp"
   • ▪ a movable set of steps for entering or leaving an aircraft.
   • ▪ a transverse ridge in a road to control the speed of vehicles. British
   • ▪ an inclined slip road leading on to or off a main road or motorway: North American "an exit ramp"
   • ▪ another term for catwalk
   • 2. an upward bend in a stair rail.
   • 3. an electrical waveform in which the voltage increases or decreases linearly with time: "a voltage ramp"
   • 4. a swindle, especially one involving a fraudulent increase of the price of a share: informal British "the Stock Exchange is investigating two blatant share ramps"

   verb

   • 1. provide with a ramp: "we have purposefully ramped the entrance to make it easier access"
   • 2. drive up the price of (a company's shares) in order to gain a financial advantage: British "they're trying to ramp the share price"
   • 3. (of an animal) rear up on its hind legs in a threatening posture: archaic "they roared and ramped in cages"
   • ▪ rush about uncontrollably: "an awful beast ramping about the woods and fields"
   • ▪ (of a plant) grow or climb luxuriantly: "ivy ramped over the flower beds"
   • 4. (of an electrical waveform) increase or decrease voltage linearly with time: "the integrated circuit's output then ramps in the negative direction"

   Word Origin Middle English (as a verb in the sense ‘rear up’, also used as a heraldic term): from Old French ramper ‘creep, crawl’, of unknown origin. Sense 1 of the noun dates from the late 18th century.

   Scrabble Points: 8

   • R

     1

   • A

     1

   • M

     3

   • P

     3

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