Other forms: crammed, cramming, crams
To cram is to force too much into too small a space. A week of clothes pushed into a carry-on bag until you have to sit on it to close the zip; six people crammed into the back of one taxi.
The famous use is about studying: to cram is to squeeze a whole term's work into the night before the exam, coffee and highlighters, holding it just long enough to write it down. You cram for an exam, cram clothes into a bag, cram a room with furniture, cram in three museums before the flight home. Crammed with means completely full: a drawer crammed with old cables, a street crammed with market stalls. The word is physical and slightly desperate — it says there was not enough room and you did it anyway, so nobody crams gently. Spelling note: the m doubles, crammed and cramming.
1verbforceTo force too many things or people into a space.
“They crammed nine of us into one small room.”
2verbcramTo study very hard in a short time just before an exam.
“He crammed all weekend for the biology test.”
3verbpushTo push something roughly into a container or an opening.
“She crammed the letters into her coat pocket.”
Old English had crammian, to cram or stuff, and behind it stand Proto-Germanic krammōną and a Proto-Indo-European root ger-, to gather or collect. Its relatives are all about pressure: Old English crimman meant to press or bruise, and Icelandic kremja still means to squeeze or crush. Everything the word does in English is that same push — the packed train, the stuffed bag, the exam learned overnight.
Proto-Indo-European
*ger- — to assemble; collect; gather
Proto-Germanic
*krammōną
Proto-West Germanic
*krammōn
Old English
crammian — to cram; stuff
Middle English
crammen
English, today
cram
Built from
From Middle English crammen, from Old English crammian (“to cram; stuff”), from Proto-West Germanic krammōn, from Proto-Germanic krammōną, a secondary verb derived from krimmaną (“to stuff”), from Proto-Indo-European ger- (“to assemble; collect; gather”). Compare Old English crimman (“to cram; stuff; insert; press; bruise”), Icelandic kremja (“to squeeze; crush; bruise”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA