The machine used anciently for knocking down gates or walls. A heavy beam was suspended by chains, at the end of which was an iron head, shaped something like a ram. The name (which in both passages is simply 'ram') may have been derived either from its shape, or from the resemblance of its action to the butting of a ram. It was pulled away from the wall and then swung heavily against it. Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22 .