From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen ("to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend"), from Old French ramper (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant.

Alternatively from Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper ("to creep, climb"), equivalent to ramp + -ant.

• IPA: /ˈɹæm.pənt/

rampant

1. (originally) Rearing on both hind legs with the forelegs extended.

   The Vienna riding school displays splendid rampant movement.

2. (heraldry) Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.
   • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

     ‘I forget your coat of arms.’
     ‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

   • 1892, Thomas Hardy, The Well-Beloved:

     little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

3. (architecture) Tilted, said of an arch with one side higher than the other, or a vault whose two abutments are located on an inclined plane.
4. Unrestrained or unchecked, usually in a negative manner.

   Weeds are rampant in any neglected garden.

5. Rife, or occurring widely, frequently or menacingly.

   There was rampant corruption in the city.

• ramp
• rampage

• German: sich aufbäumend
• Russian: стоящий на задних лапах

• French: rampant
• Italian: rampante

• French: effréné
• German: zügellos
• Italian: sfrenato, sfrenata
• Portuguese: galopante, desenfreado
• Russian: неи́стовый
• Spanish: desenfrenado, galopante

• German: ungezügelt
• Italian: dilagante
• Russian: неистовый

rampant

1. (informal, non-standard) Rampantly.

   Things seem to be running rampant around here lately.