rampant
adj.-
1 heraldry (adj.) C2 Proficiency Technicalshown on a shield or flag standing on its back legs with its front legs raised.
depicted in profile standing on the hind legs with the forelegs raised, as a heraldic beast.
ExampleThe royal flag featured a gold lion rampant against a red background.
ExampleThe family crest prominently displayed a griffin rampant, symbolising both vigilance and courage in the face of adversity.
Teacher's tipThis is a highly specialised term used almost exclusively when discussing coats of arms or historical flags.
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2 architecture (adj.) C2 Proficiency Technical Architecturedescribing an arch where one side is higher than the other.
having one abutment or spring higher than the other, as in a rampant arch or vault.
ExampleThe architect used a rampant arch to support the weight of the stone staircase.
ExampleThe cathedral's flying buttresses utilise rampant arches to transfer the lateral thrust of the nave vaulting to the outer piers.
From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”). Alternatively from Middle English rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish rampōn, hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from rampa, hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”).