▪ I. ‖ pram1, praam
(prɑːm)
Also 8–9 prahm, prame, 9 prahme, praum.
[Du. praam, MDu. praem, prame, OFris. prâm, Fris. prame, MLG., LG. prâm, prame; so MHG. prâm, G. prahm-e, ON. prámr, Da. pram, Norw. praam, Sw. pråm, also F. prame, all from Slav.; cf. OSlav. pram{supu}, Pol. pram, cognate with OHG. farm, freight-boat, ferry: f. root par-, per-, por-: see fare v.]
a. A flat-bottomed boat or lighter, used especially in the Baltic and the Netherlands for shipping cargo, etc.
| [1390–1 Earl Derby's Exp. (Camden) 42 Et pro portagio dictorum piscium ad les prames, v scot [at Danzig].] 1548 [see e]. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 105 Some long, deepe prams, sowed together with hempe and cord (but vnpitcht or calkt). In these the Muscouian Merchants saile downe Volga, ouer the Caspian Sea. 1643 Declar. Commons Rebell. Irel. 49 [They] tooke a Scottish Barke and a Dover barke, and a Pram or Hute, and a Catch. 1712 Lond. Gaz. No. 5050/2 Danish Prams, or Flat-bottom'd Boats. 1762 Gentl. Mag. 251 The bason where the prames and flat-bottom boats lie. 1807 Sir R. Wilson in Life (1862) II. vii. 218 Three English praums had also arrived. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 899 The cargo..was unloaded into praams or lighters belonging to the [Russian] government. 1834 G. Crabbe in Poetical Wks. I. i. 9 Vessels of all sorts, from the large heavy troll-boat to the yawl and prame. 1844 Hull Dock Act 114 The word ‘vessel’ shall include ship, lighter, keel, barge, praam, boat, raft. |
b. A large flat-bottomed boat mounted with guns and used as a floating battery.
| 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5340, 4 Prames or large Flat-bottomed Boats, one of which is to carry 20 Guns. 1761 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 126/2 There is a kind of warlike vessel called a prame..equipping in different French ports. Each..has two decks..they are long and broad, but draw very little water, and are rigged after the manner of a ketch. 1833 Marryat P. Simple lviii, One of the praams mounted ten guns, and the other eight. 1845 Gresley Frank's First Trip 166 A large sort of gun-boats, called Praams, which were flat and wide, with three keels and three masts. |
c. As name of a ship's boat.
| 1860 Reade 8th Commandm. 338 His work runs into the port of annihilation quicker than pirate can launch praam to attack it. 1894 Times 15 Nov. 7/5 A small boat, known as a ‘pram’, was seen to be launched. The mate..states that..the captain ordered the boat out to row to the shore. |
d. A small sailing-boat.
U.S.| 1937 Sun (Baltimore) 31 July 11/8 In the pram class, Bucky Wilson..scored a surprise victory. 1956 Ibid. 11 Oct. 21/4 Hard luck forced Mary Sullivan and Henry White out of the competition when a boom broke on one of their prams. 1966 Amer. Speech XLI. 237 The smallest [sailboats] are called Prams, and they measure up to about 10 feet long. |
e. attrib. and
Comb., as
praam bow,
pram brig,
pram ship.
| 1548 Aberdeen Regr. XX. (Jam.), For the prame [in Jam. prane] hyir havand thair gudis to the schip. 1755 N. Magens Insurances II. 278 (Ordinance of Stockholm) Disbursements and Charges..Pilotage, Anchorage, Beaconage, Prahm or Lighter-piles [etc.]. 1804 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 558/1 That part of the enemy's flotilla, consisting of two praam ships bearing the flag of chief of division and both under French colours. 1849 W. R. O'Byrne Naval Biog. Dict. 1237/2 An armed cutter, a praam-brig, and a gun vessel. 1902 Rudder Apr. 208 The fore overhang [of the Meteor] is neither the old clipper stem nor the new pram bow. |
▪ II. pram2 colloq. (
præm)
[See sense 1.] 1. A shortened form of
perambulator 3.
| 1884 Graphic 25 Oct. 423/2 Another favourite custom of nurses is to walk two or three abreast, chattering and laughing as they push their ‘prams’. 1888 Pall Mall G. 25 Sept. 2/1 The Pram and the Baby. a 1908 Mod. Advt. Some Second-hand Prams to be cleared Cheap. 1916 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion v. 173 When I was a poor man and had a solicitor once when they found a pram in the dust cart, he got me off. 1955 Times 4 June 7/4 There are women who would not exchange a familiar pram with a quirk in its steering for the best new one that money could buy. 1963 [see pram-park below]. 1970 [see pram-pusher below]. |
2. A milkman's hand-cart for delivering milk.
| 1897 Daily News 20 Jan. 12/6 Milkman seeks Work Milking Cows, or with a pram. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 8 Oct. 8/2 Dairy Show..Accessories from churns and separators to milk ‘prams’. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as (sense 1)
pramful,
pram-handle,
pram-load,
pram race,
pram rug;
pram-park, (
a) (see
quot. 1963); (
b) a space, area, etc., where prams may be left;
pram-pusher, one who pushes a pram;
spec. a young mother; so
pram-pushing ppl. a. and vbl. n.| 1957 M. Frayn in Granta 9 Mar. 20/1 People said that an old woman had been arrested on the other side of the village, pushing a whole *pramful of stolen goods along. 1977 F. Branston Up & Coming Man xv. 168 A young mum and a pramful of kids. |
| 1934 Dylan Thomas Let. 15 Apr. (1966) 102 Mothers are resting their bellies on *pram-handles. |
| 1972 Where Oct. 273/3 Staff took to the post office two *pramloads of the report-and-appeal. 1973 Times 28 Feb. (Suppl. on Victoria Centre, Nottingham) p. iv/6 A flying squirrel pushes a pramload (which is a nest) of birds. |
| 1963 Times 3 May 15/7 In the House of Commons on Monday Sir Robert Cary asked how one gets a pram on a bus. In New Zealand they are carried in special *pram-parks on the front of the radiators, where they seem to be safe, but nothing can be left inside, as they are hung wheels foremost. 1965 R. Rendell To fear Painted Devil xii. 136 We're going to have that extension done at last... A sun loggia... And a pram park! 1967 J. Wilson in L. Deighton London Dossier 35 Linguists wishing to meet au pair girls might do worse than to hang about the pram park inside Peter Jones department store. 1970 Times 23 Feb. 13/2 The scheme will include..seats and plants in the concourse, and a pram park. 1973 Guardian 3 Sept. 20 Pram parks should be provided inside shops. |
| 1935 J. L. Hodson Harvest in North ii. i. 39 Afe on yo' are nowt but skivvies and *pram-pushers. 1963 Guardian 25 Jan. 8/7 The pram-pushers are always willing to discuss these, as a change from the inevitable baby-talk. 1970 A. Price Labyrinth Makers v. 64 Mothers bulldozing their way ahead with prams... Roskill adroitly slipped into the wake of one of the most aggressive pram-pushers. |
| 1933 Punch 10 May 516/1 Possibly the *pram-pushing girl's hat caught her eye. 1964 G. Butler Coffin in Malta vii. 198 Most husbands were competent nannies; he fully expected to do some pram-pushing himself. 1974 Country Life 7 Mar. 480/1 The pram-pushing Phil's anguished claim—‘he's my son!’ |
| 1968 P. Jennings Living Village 123 In the scrapbook there is a very good colour photograph of a Boxing Day *pram race. |
| 1934 A. Thirkell Wild Strawberries ix. 196 Ivy, run and get the *pram rug and put it round her. |