to fill (something) by force with more than it can easily hold.
to force or stuff (usually followed by into, down, etc.).
to fill with or as with an excessive amount of food; overfeed.
Informal.
to prepare (a person), as for an exam, by having them memorize information within a short period of time.
to acquire knowledge of (a subject) by so preparing oneself.
Archaic. to tell lies to.
to eat greedily or to excess.
to study for an examination by memorizing facts at the last minute.
to press or force accommodation in a room, vehicle, etc., beyond normal or comfortable capacity; crowd; jam.
The whole team crammed into the bus.
Informal. the act of preparing for an exam by memorizing information within a short time period.
an excessively full state.
a dense crowd; throng.
(tr) to force (people, material, etc) into (a room, container, etc) with more than it can hold; stuff
to eat or cause to eat more than necessary
informal to study or cause to study (facts, etc), esp for an examination, by hastily memorizing
the act or condition of cramming
a crush
First recorded before 1000; Middle English crammen, Old English crammian “to stuff,” akin to crimman “to put in”
To cram is to crowd or stuff people or things into a limited amount of space. You might be tempted to cram your mouth full of your mom's chocolate chip cookies, especially if they just came out of the oven and are still warm and gooey. You can cram yourself with food, or cram your books onto a shelf that's not quite big enough to hold them. A writer might cram one book with dozens of characters, or you could cram homemade pancakes with blueberries. Another way to cram is to study for a test all in one session: "I haven't studied at all yet — I'll have to stay up tonight and cram." The Old English root, crammian, means "stuff something into something else."
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The fashion-magazine moment is long gone as Miranda deals with such alarming new trends as budget cuts, the imperative to cram her vision into annoying little video clips, and consumer sensitivity to sweatshop manufacturing.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 29, 2026
Retailers are joining the race to cram artificial intelligence absolutely anywhere.
From Slate • Feb. 22, 2026
“Is This Thing On?” is that rarity: a perfectly worthy dramedy that sometimes feels off because it’s trying to cram two good movies into one.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025
The computing power of chips has increased dramatically as makers cram them with more microscopic electronic components.
From Barron's • Nov. 26, 2025
Hortensia paused to cram more crisps into her mouth.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
