Gay.

Syn. -- To banter; ridicule; satirize; deride; mock.

Ral"ly (rl"l), v. i. To use pleasantry, or satirical merriment.

Ral"ly, n. Good-humored raillery.

Ralph (rlf), n. A name sometimes given to the raven.

Ral"ston*ite (rl"stn*t), n. [So named after J. G. Ralston of Norristown, Penn.] (Min.) A fluoride of alumina and soda occurring with the Greenland cryolite in octahedral crystals.

Ram (rm), n. [AS. ramm, ram; akin to OHG. & D. ram, Prov. G. ramm, and perh. to Icel. ramr strong.]

1. The male of the sheep and allied animals. In some parts of England a ram is called a tup.

2. (Astron.) (a) Aries, the sign of the zodiac which the sun enters about the 21st of March. (b) The constellation Aries, which does not now, as formerly, occupy the sign of the same name.

3. An engine of war used for butting or battering. Specifically: (a) In ancient warfare, a long beam suspended by slings in a framework, and used for battering the walls of cities; a battering-ram. (b) A heavy steel or iron beak attached to the prow of a steam war vessel for piercing or cutting down the vessel of an enemy; also, a vessel carrying such a beak.

4. A hydraulic ram. See under Hydraulic.

5. The weight which strikes the blow, in a pile driver, steam hammer, stamp mill, or the like.

6. The plunger of a hydraulic press.

Ram's horn. (a) (Fort.) A low semicircular work situated in and commanding a ditch. [Written also ramshorn.] Farrow. (b) (Paleon.) An ammonite.

Ram, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rammed (rmd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ramming.] 1. To butt or strike against; to drive a ram against or through; to thrust or drive with violence; to force in; to drive together; to cram; as, to ram an enemy's vessel; to ram piles, cartridges, etc.

[They] rammed me in with foul shirts, and smocks, socks, foul stockings, greasy napkins.

Shak.

2. To fill or compact by pounding or driving.

A ditch . . . was filled with some sound materials, and rammed to make the foundation solid.

Arbuthnot.

||Ram`a*dan" (rm`*dn"), n. [Ar. raman, or ramazn, properly, the hot ||month.] [Written also Ramadhan, Ramadzan, and Rhamadan.] 1. The ninth ||Mohammedan month.

2. The great annual fast of the Mohammedans, kept during daylight through the ninth month.

Ram"age (rm"j; 48), n. [F., fr. L. ramus a branch.]

1. Boughs or branches. [Obs.] Crabb.

2. Warbling of birds in trees. [Obs.] Drummond.

Ra*mage" (r*mj"), a. Wild; untamed. [Obs.]

Ra*ma"gi*ous (-m"j*s), a. Wild; not tame. [Obs.]

Now is he tame that was so ramagious.

Remedy of Love.

Ra"mal (r"mal), a. [L. ramus branch.] Of or pertaining to a ramus, or branch; rameal.

||Ra*ma"ya*na (rä*mä"y*n), n. [Skr. Rmyaa.] The more ancient of the two ||great epic poems in Sanskrit. The hero and heroine are Rama and his ||wife Sita.

Ram"berge (rm"brj), n. [F., fr. rame oar + barge barge.] Formerly, a kind of large war galley.

Ram"ble (rm"b'l), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Rambled (-b'ld); p. pr. & vb. n. Rambling (-blng).] [For rammle, fr. Prov. E. rame to roam. Cf. Roam.] 1. To walk, ride, or sail, from place to place, without any determinate object in view; to roam carelessly or irregularly; to rove; to wander; as, to ramble about the city; to ramble over the world.

He that is at liberty to ramble in perfect darkness, what is his liberty better than if driven up and down as a bubble by the wind?

Locke.

2. To talk or write in a discursive, aimless way.

3. To extend or grow at random. Thomson.

Syn. -- To rove; roam; wander; range; stroll.

Ram"ble, n. 1. A going or moving from place to place without any determinate business or object; an excursion or stroll merely for recreation.

Coming home, after a short Christmas ramble.

Swift.

2. [Cf. Rammel.] (Coal Mining) A bed of shale over the seam. Raymond.

Ram"bler (-blr), n. One who rambles; a rover; a wanderer.

Ram"bling (-blng), a. Roving; wandering; discursive; as, a rambling fellow, talk, or building.

Ram"bling*ly, adv. In a rambling manner.

Ram"booze (-bz), n. A beverage made of wine, ale (or milk), sugar, etc. [Obs.] Blount.

Ram*bu"tan (rm*b"tn), n. [Malay rambtan, fr. rambut hair of the head.] (Bot.) A Malayan fruit produced by the tree Nephelium lappaceum, and closely related to the litchi nut. It is bright red, oval in shape, covered with coarse hairs (whence the name), and contains a pleasant acid pulp. Called also ramboostan.

Ra"me*al (r"m*al), a. Same as Ramal. Gray.

Ra"me*an (-an), n. A Ramist. Shipley.

Ramed (rmd), a. Having the frames, stem, and sternpost adjusted; -- said of a ship on the stocks.

Ram"ee (rm"), n. (Bot.) See Ramie.

Ram"e*kin (rm"*kn), n. See Ramequin. [Obs.]

Ram"ent (rm"ent), n. [L. ramenta, pl.] 1. A scraping; a shaving. [Obs.]

2. pl. (Bot.) Ramenta.

||Ra*men"ta (r*mn"t), n. pl. [L., scrapings.] (Bot.) Thin brownish ||chaffy scales upon the leaves or young shoots of some plants, ||especially upon the petioles and leaves of ferns. Gray.

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Ram`en*ta"ceous (rm`n*t"shs), a. (Bot.) Covered with ramenta.

Ra"me*ous (r"m*s), a. [L. rameus, from ramus branch, bough.] (Bot.) Ramal.

Ram"e*quin (rm"*kn), n. [F.] (Cookery) A mixture of cheese, eggs, etc., formed in a mold, or served on bread. [Written also ramekin.]

Ram"ie (rm"), n. [From Malay.] (Bot.) The grass-cloth plant (Bœhmeria nivea); also, its fiber, which is very fine and exceedingly strong; -- called also China grass, and rhea. See Grass-cloth plant, under Grass.

Ram`i*fi*ca"tion (rm`*f*k"shn), n. [Cf. F. ramification. See Ramify.] 1. The process of branching, or the development of branches or offshoots from a stem; also, the mode of their arrangement.

2. A small branch or offshoot proceeding from a main stock or channel; as, the ramifications of an artery, vein, or nerve.

3. A division into principal and subordinate classes, heads, or departments; also, one of the subordinate parts; as, the ramifications of a subject or scheme.

4. The production of branchlike figures. Crabb.

Ram`i*flo"rous (-fl"rs), a. [L. ramus branch + flos, floris, flower.] (Bot.) Flowering on the branches.

Ram"i*form (rm"*fôrm), a. [L. ramus branch + -form.] (Bot.) Having the form of a branch.

Ram"i*fy (rm"*f), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Ramified (rm"*fd); p. pr. & vb. n. Ramifying (rm"*f`ng).] [F. ramifier, LL. ramificare, fr. L. ramus a branch + -ficare (in comp.) to make. See -fy.] To divide into branches or subdivisions; as, to ramify an art, subject, scheme.

Ram"i*fy, v. i. 1. To shoot, or divide, into branches or subdivisions, as the stem of a plant.

When they [asparagus plants] . . . begin to ramify.

Arbuthnot.

2. To be divided or subdivided, as a main subject.

Ra*mig"er*ous (r*mj"r*s), a. [L. ramus a branch + -gerous.] (Bot.) Bearing branches; branched.

Ra*mip"a*rous (r*mp"*rs), a. [L. ramus + parere to bear.] (Bot.) Producing branches; ramigerous.

Ra"mist (r"mst), n. A follower of Pierre Ramé, better known as Ramus, a celebrated French scholar, who was professor of rhetoric and philosophy at Paris in the reign of Henry II., and opposed the Aristotelians.

Ram"line (rm"ln), n. A line used to get a straight middle line, as on a spar, or from stem to stern in building a vessel.

Ram"mel (rm"ml), n. Refuse matter. [Obs.]

Filled with any rubbish, rammel and broken stones.

Holland.

Ram"mer (-mr), n. One who, or that which, rams or drives. Specifically: (a) An instrument for driving anything with force; as, a rammer for driving stones or piles, or for beating the earth to more solidity. (b) A rod for forcing down the charge of a gun; a ramrod. (c) (Founding) An implement for pounding the sand of a mold to render it compact.

Ram"mish (-msh), a. Like a ram; hence, rank; lascivious. "Their savor is so rammish." Chaucer.

Ram"mish*ness, n. The quality of being rammish.

Ram"my (-m), a. Like a ram; rammish. Burton.

Ram`ol*les"cence (rm`l*ls"sens), n. [F. ramollir to make soft, to soften; pref. re- re- + amollir to soften; a (L. ad) + mollir to soften, L. mollire, fr. mollis soft.] A softening or mollifying. [R.]

Ra*moon" (r*mn"), n. (Bot.) A small West Indian tree (Trophis Americana) of the Mulberry family, whose leaves and twigs are used as fodder for cattle.

Ra*mose" (r*ms"), a. [L. ramosus, from ramus a branch.] Branched, as the stem or root of a plant; having lateral divisions; consisting of, or having, branches; full of branches; ramifying; branching; branchy.

Ra"mous (r"ms), a. Ramose.

Ramp (rmp), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Ramped (rmt; 215); p. pr. & vb. n. Ramping.] [F. ramper to creep, OF., to climb; of German origin; cf. G. raffen to snatch, LG. & D. rapen. See Rap to snatch, and cf. Romp.]

1. To spring; to leap; to bound; to rear; to prance; to become rampant; hence, to frolic; to romp.

2. To move by leaps, or as by leaps; hence, to move swiftly or with violence.

Their bridles they would champ, And trampling the fine element would fiercely ramp.

Spenser.

3. To climb, as a plant; to creep up.

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

Ray.

Ramp, n. 1. A leap; a spring; a hostile advance.

The bold Ascalonite Fled from his lion ramp.

Milton.

2. A highwayman; a robber. [Prov. Eng.]

3. A romping woman; a prostitute. [Obs.] Lyly.