rampant

English

Alternative forms

• rampaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp +‎ -and or ramp +‎ -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).

Alternatively from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English *rampant (not found), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp +‎ -ant. Old French ramper derives from (deprecated template usage) [etyl]  *rampōn, *hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”). More at ramp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹæm.pənt/
• Rhymes: -æmpənt

Adjective

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

1. (originally) Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.

   The Vienna riding school displays splendid rampant movement.

2. (heraldry) Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

   • (Can we date this quote?), Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved

     little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

3. (architecture) Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other, or a vault whose two abutments are located on an inclined plane.
4. Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.

   Weeds are rampant in any neglected garden.

   • 2012 March, William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter, “The British Longitude Act Reconsidered”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 100, number 2, page 87:

     Conditions were horrendous aboard most British naval vessels at the time. Scurvy and other diseases ran rampant, killing more seamen each year than all other causes combined, including combat.

   • 2013, Phil McNulty, "Man City 4-1 Man Utd", BBC Sport, 22 September 2013:

     In contrast to the despair of his opposite number, it was a day of delight for new City boss Manuel Pellegrini as he watched the rampant Blues make a powerful statement about their Premier League ambitions.

5. Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.

   There was rampant corruption in the city.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• rampant gardant
• rampantly

• rampant regardant
• rampant sejant, sejant rampant

Related terms

• ramp
• rampage

Translations

rearing animal

• Dutch: steigerend (nl)
• Finnish: takajaloilleen noussut, pystyyn noussut
• German: sich aufbäumend
• Irish: ar a ingne deiridh
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: буен m (buen)
• Russian: стоя́щий на за́дних ла́пах (stojáščij na zádnix lápax)
• Swedish: stegrande (sv)

heraldry

• Finnish: pystyyn kavahtanut, pystyyn noussut
• French: rampant (fr)
• Irish: ar a ingne deiridh
• Italian: rampante (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: буен m (buen)
• Swedish: stegrande (sv)

architecture

• Dutch: hellend (nl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

unrestrained

• Arabic: جَامِح m (jāmiḥ), هَائِج m (hāʔij)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 猖獗 (zh) (chāngjué), 繁茂 (zh) (fánmào) (of plants)

• Dutch: ongebreideld (nl), ongecontroleerd (nl), woekerend (nl)
• Finnish: rehottava, hillitön (fi), pidäkkeetön
• French: effréné (fr)
• German: zügellos (de)
• Greek: ασυγκράτητος (el) m (asygkrátitos)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: sfrenato (it) m, sfrenata (it) f
• Japanese: (phrase) 手がつけられない (te ga tsukerarenai)
• Occitan: desfrenat, descabestrat
• Portuguese: galopante (pt), desenfreado (pt)
• Russian: неи́стовый (ru) (neístovyj), безу́держный (ru) (bezúderžnyj), я́рый (ru) (járyj), бу́йный (ru) (bújnyj)
• Spanish: desenfrenado (es), galopante
• Swedish: otyglad (sv), hejdlös (sv), ohejdad, vild (sv)

rife and menacing

• Dutch: ongebreideld (nl), uit de hand gelopen
• Finnish: rehottava, hillitön (fi)
• Greek: αχαλίνωτος (el) m (achalínotos)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: неистовый (ru) (neistovyj), угрожа́ющий (ru) (ugrožájuščij)
• Swedish: grasserande (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• German: ^{(please verify)} zügellos (de)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 과격한
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 繁茂 (zh) (fánmào)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} desenfrenado (es)

Further reading

• “rampant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “rampant”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “rampant”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• man-trap, mantrap

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑ̃.pɑ̃/

Verb

rampant

1. present participle of ramper

Adjective

rampant (feminine rampante, masculine plural rampants, feminine plural rampantes)

1. (heraldry) rampant
2. (architecture) tilted
3. humbly inclined
4. (botany) extending over the ground rather then climbing upward
5. (literature) base; common
6. (military) stranded on the ground as opposed to flying staff

Further reading

• “rampant”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Old French

Adjective

rampant m (oblique and nominative feminine singular rampant or rampante)

1. (heraldry) rampant

Declension

Declension of rampant

Number	Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	Subject	rampans, rampanz, rampantz	rampante	rampant
	Oblique	rampant			rampante	rampant
Plural	Subject	rampant	rampantes		rampant
	Oblique	rampans, rampanz, rampantz			rampantes	rampant

Descendants

• → English: rampant
• French: rampant