Băt'ter-ing-răm, n.
n. 1. (Mil.) An engine used 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 to a beam supported by posts, and balanced so as to swing backward and forward, and was impelled by men against the wall. Grose.
Sense 2. A blacksmith’s hammer, suspended, and worked horizontally.