battering ram

English

Etymology

The heads of some battering rams were carved in the shape of a ram, an animal renowned for butting with its head.

Noun

battering ram (plural battering rams)

1. (historical) A heavy object used for battering down walls and gates.
2. A modern device, usually in the form of a metal bar with handles, chiefly used by police and firefighters to force open locked doors.

   Synonym: (UK) enforcer

3. (figuratively) Something which acts as a powerful tool against something.
   • 1982 December 11, Frances Russell, “Economic performance buoys Pawley’s position”, in The Vancouver Sun (The Weekend Sun), Vancouver, BC, page A6:

     And in the edition of their party newspaper released last week, [the Tories] pledged to Manitobans that they would continue their battering ram approach this time around.

   • 2023 January 6, Peter Wehner, “The GOP Is a Battering Ram Against Truth”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     That was expected, I suppose, because during the Trump era, the GOP was a battering ram against truth and reality.

Translations

type of siege engine used to smash gates and walls

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مِدَق m (midaq)
• Armenian: խոյ (hy) (xoy)
• Belarusian: тара́н m (tarán)
• Catalan: ariet (ca) m, moltó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 破城槌 (pòchéngchuí), 攻城槌 (gōngchéngchuí)

• Czech: beranidlo n
• Danish: rambuk c
• Dutch: stormram (nl) m
• Esperanto: ramo (eo)
• Finnish: muurinmurtaja (fi), muurinsärkijä
• French: bélier (fr) m
• Galician: ariete (gl) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Rammbock (de) m, Sturmbock m
• Greek: πολιορκητικός κριός m (poliorkitikós kriós)

  Ancient: κριός m (kriós)

• Hebrew: איל ניגוח
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: faltörő kos (hu)
• Icelandic: múrbrjótur m
• Ido: arieto (io)
• Irish: reithe cogaidh m
• Italian: ariete (it), puntone (it) m, rompimuro m
• Japanese: 破城槌 (ja) (hajōtsui)
• Korean: 파성퇴 (paseongtoe)
• Latin: ariēs (la) m
• Macedonian: опсаден овен m (opsaden oven), овен m (oven)
• Norman: mouton m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rambukk m

  Nynorsk: rambukk m

• Occitan: aret (oc) m
• Persian: راک (fa) (râk), چکش تیرکوب, دژکوب (fa)
• Polish: taran (pl) m
• Portuguese: aríete (pt) m
• Romanian: berbec (ro) m
• Russian: тара́н (ru) m (tarán), соко́л (ru) m (sokól), со́кол (ru) m (sókol)
• Spanish: ariete (es) m
• Swedish: murbräcka (sv)
• Turkish: koçbaşı (tr) şahmerdan (tr)
• Ukrainian: тара́н m (tarán)
• Welsh: hwrdd rhyfel m, hwrddbeiriant m

References

• The Manual of Heraldry, Fifth Edition, by Anonymous, London, 1862, online at [2]

Further reading

• battering ram on Wikipedia.Wikipedia