Bat"ter*ing-ram` (?), n.
1. Mil. An engine used in ancient times to beat down the walls of besieged places.
⇒ It was a large beam, with a head of iron, which was sometimes made to resemble the head of a ram. It was suspended by ropes t a beam supported by posts, and so balanced as to swing backward and forward, and was impelled by men against the wall.
Grose.
2.
A blacksmith's hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally.
© Webster 1913.