battering ram
Americannoun
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an ancient military device with a heavy horizontal ram for battering down walls, gates, etc.
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any of various similar devices, usually machine-powered, used in demolition, by police and firefighters to force entrance to a building, etc.
noun
Etymology
Origin of battering ram
First recorded in 1605–15
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While leaning on a partner for support during the holidays is natural and even healthy, using them as an emotional battering ram is not.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 22, 2025
Henry was a battering ram for Baltimore last season; on Sunday he was barely a blip with 33 yards on 15 carries.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 6, 2025
Pounding at the Samoan barricades, the battering ram of Gilchrist eventually broke through to timber over for only his second international score.
From BBC • Jul. 18, 2025
"Dolores Claiborne" hit like a battering ram into a cultural space that offered only two conceptions of b***hery—vile monster and bad** renegade—both of which grossly failed to represent real women living hardscrabble lives.
From Salon • Mar. 23, 2025
The masonry of the doorway was constructed with deep slots in it, in which heavy beams ran to and fro— heavy enough to withstand a battering ram.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
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.
