rampant

Meanings

Adjective

• Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.
• Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
• Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other, or a vault whose two abutments are located on an inclined plane.
• Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.
• Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.

Adverb

• Rampantly.

Origin

• From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen, from 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 Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper, equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *rampōn, *hrampōn, from *rampa, *hrampa, from Proto-Germanic *hrempaną ("to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle").