Battering-ram
Definitions
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The Battering Ram -
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
- Battering-ram A blacksmith's hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally.
- Battering-ram (Mil) An engine used in ancient times to beat down the walls of besieged places.
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Additional illustrations & photos:
Battering-ram
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n battering-ram An ancient military engine consisting of a large beam shod with metal, sometimes with a head somewhat resembling the head of a ram (whence the name), used to batter or beat down the defenses of besieged places. In its simplest form it was carried and forcibly driven against the wall by the hands of the soldiers, but more commonly it was suspended by ropes from a beam which was supported by posts, and balanced so as to swing backward and forward, being in this wayimpelled against the wall with much more ease and effect. It was also often mounted on wheels and worked under cover, the assailants being protected by a movable shed from the missiles of the besieged.
- n battering-ram A heavy blacksmiths' hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally.
- n battering-ram A child's game in which all the players except two form a circle, one of the latter being inside and the other outside. The one inside the circle endeavors to break through, the player outside assisting him. Should he succeed, that player in the circle who is responsible for his escape takes his place.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- Battering-ram an ancient engine for battering down walls, consisting of a large beam with an iron head like that of a ram
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Etymology
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
O. Fr. batre (Fr. battre), from the root of Bat.
Usage
In literature:
Infuriated, they seized the trunk of a tree, and using it as a battering-ram, at once broke in the door.
"The Huguenots in France" by Samuel Smiles
Struck from behind with the force of a battering-ram, Percy shot over the brink.
"Jim Spurling, Fisherman" by Albert Walter Tolman
There are accounts of some battering-rams which weighed forty or fifty tons, and required fifteen hundred men to work them.
"Richard I" by Jacob Abbott
What they had mistaken for a battering ram, was the brown tip of the mammoth insect.
"Wanted--7 Fearless Engineers!" by Warner Van Lorne
Friendship is an even better ally than battering-rams and scaling-ladders.
"Historic Boys" by Elbridge Streeter Brooks
Lonagon peeped through a crack, and saw half a dozen Indians coming up with a battering-ram in the shape of a felled tree.
"Colorado Jim" by George Goodchild
I wanted a battering-ram, with which to smash the window and the blind.
"Seek and Find" by Oliver Optic
But the Germans were preparing a battering ram which their generals thought irresistible.
"The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8)" by Various
In vain they brought battering-rams and tried to batter down the doors.
"Tales From Scottish Ballads" by Elizabeth W. Grierson
His heart thumped under Jinnie's arms like a battering-ram.
"Rose O'Paradise" by Grace Miller White
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In poetry:
And the loud commotion, like the rushing of ocean,
Grew momently more and more,
And strokes as of a battering ram
Did shake the strong church door.
Grew momently more and more,
And strokes as of a battering ram
Did shake the strong church door.
"A Ballad, Shewing How An Old Woman Rode Double, And Who Rode Before Her" by Robert Southey
In news:
INTERVIEWS Stream Nachtmystium's Black Metal Battering Ram 'Silencing Machine'.
'No one likes to be a battering ram'.
Vick, Falcons Forge Ahead by Battering Rams.
Sedan used as battering ram to break in to Apple (APPL) Store in Johnson County.
'No one likes to be a battering ram '.
Man as battering ram .
Over the years, the phrase "antiwar film" has come to represent heavy-handed polemics and battering-ram symbolism.
Everyone knew Danny Welstad, their battering ram of a running back, was going to get the ball in key situations.
(CBS News) A woman was arrested for assault after allegedly using her car as a battering ram on two people after she got in an altercation over a parking spot, authorities said.
Sedan used as battering ram to break in to Apple (APPL) Store in Kansas.
I look at it as her defense mechanism—like the horns on a battering ram.
Regardless of facts, faux pas or folly, conservatives will continue to tout her as an asset as long as she continues to act like a battering ram to their opposition.
We have two drawers in our travel trailer that acted as a battering ram on the cabinet door that conceals them while traveling on winding mountain roads.
Anyone with an old car they're willing to modify to use as a battering ram, however, can try to qualify for either the Derby or the Figure 8 event.
Others are using defensive linemen when they need a battering ram in the backfield.
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