ramps
(ræmps)
[Var. of rams; cf. G. rampe(n in same sense.]
1. north. dial. and Sc. Ramsons.
| 1538 Turner Libellus, Arisaron..puto hodie a nostris dici rammes aut rampes. 1663 Blair Autobiog. iii. (1848) 53 All things smelling of a root called ramps. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Ramps, wild leeks, common on shores. 1869– in northern dial. glossaries (Cumb., Lanc., Northumb.). |
2. U.S. = ramp n.2 3 b.
| 1939 Jrnl. Tennessee Acad. Sci. XIV. 280 One kind [of wild onion] is much sought after by mountain folk, who call it ‘ramps’, and gather and eat its bulb with great relish. 1960 Washington Post 29 Apr. 12/1 It [sc. a smell] will emanate from the cooking of ramps—a wild plant somewhat like an onion. 1976 Amer. Speech 1974 XLIX. 21 ‘There's a wild onion, smells like ramps, you know.’ |