cram
/kram
/verb (crams, cramming, crammed)
1 [with object] Completely fill (a place or container) to the point of overflowing: the ashtray by the bed was crammed with cigarette butts...
- The place is crammed with cinema memorabilia - room after room packed full of it.
- The place was crammed with Turkish fans who couldn't wait for their heroes to become world champions.
- The place is crammed with them, far too many to take in during one visit.
Synonyms
stuff, pack, jam, fill, crowd, throng;
overfill, fill up, fill to overflowing, stuff to the gills, fill to the brim, overcrowd, overload
1.1Force (people or things) into a place or container that is or appears to be too small to contain them: it’s amazing how you’ve managed to cram everyone in figurative he had crammed so much into his short life...
- There was a lifetimes worth of knowledge, all crammed into a room's worth of books.
- Everyone has seen on television a packed football ground with 50,000 spectators crammed together.
- When he observed the multitude of people crammed into the small space, he stopped short.
Synonyms
force, ram, thrust, plunge, push, pile, stick, jam, pack, compress, squeeze, wedge, press, tamp, pound, drive, hammer, bang
informal shove, stuff
1.2 [no object] (Of a number of people) enter a place that is too small to accommodate all of them: they all crammed into the car...
- Numbers of backers crammed into schools and auditoriums.
- On the first night it was opened, twice that number of people crammed in.
- My friends had invited me on a drive so we all crammed in the car and set off.
Synonyms
crowd, crush, pack, jam, squash, wedge oneself, shove, push, jostle, throng, force one's way, thrust
2 [no object] Study intensively over a short period of time just before an examination: lectures were called off so students could cram for the semester finals...
- It was their final year of university and all the students were beginning to cram for final examinations.
- There are too many students who believe in cramming rather than studying.
- A familiar sight during the exam period; as drowsiness sets in, coffee helps a student stay awake and cram for those finals.
Synonyms
study intensively, revise
informal swot, mug up, bone up
Origin
Old English crammian, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch krammen 'to cramp or clamp'.