Cram Meaning
/kɹæm/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo press, force, or drive, particularly in filling, or in thrusting one thing into another; to stuff; to fill to superfluity.
verbTo fill with food to satiety; to stuff.
Sentence Examples
I'm against us forcing the child to go to cram school.
My cram school is a long way from here.
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Students often ____ for exams by studying late into the night.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian (“to cram; stuff”), from Proto-West Germanic *krammōn, from Proto-Germanic *krammōną, a secondary verb derived from *krimmaną (“to stuff”), from Proto-Indo-European *ger- (“to assemble; collect; gather”). Compare Old English crimman (“to cram; stuff; insert; press; bruise”), Icelandic kremja (“to squeeze; crush; bruise”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Are we to blame Livingstone for Tube overcrowding? In part, yes, but as Sir John Eliot had observed in 1955, while Chairman of the London Transport Executive: 'They're not crammed in. They cram themselves in.'"
— 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 244:
"The storm has passed when I arrive at Southampton Central, but more fun is to come. The station platforms and waiting rooms are crammed with people, many toting enormous amounts of baggage as they have just come off a cruise liner."
— 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:
"But Billy Bunter was only the first in the field. As the news spread, there was a crowd, not to call it a cram, in No. 7 Study: […]"
— 1952, Frank Richards, Billy Bunter and the Blue Mauritius:
"It is awful, an old un like that telling such crams as she do."
— 1864, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas:
"Shut up, and don't tell crams."
— 1894, Talbot Baines Reed, Tom, Dick, and Harry, page 107:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
Students often ____ for exams by studying late into the night.