ramrod
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to exert discipline and authority on.
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to strike or injure with or as if with a ramrod.
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to accomplish or put into action by force, intimidation, etc..
to ramrod a bill through Congress.
noun
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a rod for cleaning the barrel of a rifle or other small firearms
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a rod for ramming in the charge of a muzzle-loading firearm
Etymology
Origin of ramrod
Vocabulary lists containing ramrod
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.
See Examples For:
The soul of the movie is in watching these ramrod opposites bend and intertwine.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2025
Each picture is composed just so, to accentuate her best features: the long, swanlike neck; the well-toned midriff; the high, strong shoulders; the ramrod posture; and—this feels new—the gaunt cheeks and picture-perfect jawline.
From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2024
Among other prominent women were Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, who stood, ramrod straight, bearing the jewel-encrusted Sword of State during one of the longest parts of the service.
From New York Times ● May 6, 2023
In the audience, seated with her parents and two daughters, Joy watched her son speak, ramrod straight in his blue uniform festooned with badges and medals.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 2, 2022
I forced myself out of my hiding place and walked toward him, my back ramrod straight.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
“Rural communities that don’t have political power just get ramrodded over,” English said.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 2024
State Sen. Joseph Griffo, R-Rome, agrees the camera bill is a good one, but says the Legislature ramrodded it through without giving it any thought.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 4, 2019
The measures were ramrodded into law by rookie Democratic Governor Gaston Caperton, 49, a man who is determined to upend the state's feckless political tradition and sell mountaineers something they haven't had in decades: hope.
From Time Magazine Archive
For eleven years, grumpy Charlie had ramrodded the Bronx Democratic ma chine he inherited from Franklin D. Roosevelt's old friend, Boss Ed Flynn.
From Time Magazine Archive
It energized the near manic pace at which Groves ramrodded the project forward.
From Time Magazine Archive
“This gives us a say … to help us protect what we worked so hard for instead of just coming in and ramrodding things through,” Klicker said.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 2, 2023
After Lefaucheux was killed three years ago in an auto accident, Dreyfus, his longtime ramrodding chief of production, stepped into his job.
From Time Magazine Archive
In ramrodding an outfit to market, or seeing a plan to completion, all must stand clear of brackish water, wolfsbane and loco weed.
From The Land of Look Behind by Brown, Paul Cameron
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.
