hit the books vs cram

hit the books and cram both are verbs.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
hit the books	No	No	Yes	No
cram	No	No	Yes	No

As verbs, cram is a hyponym of hit the books; that is, cram is a word with a more specific, narrower meaning than hit the books:

Other hyponyms of hit the books include con, learn, memorise, memorize, bone, bone up, drum, get up, grind away, mug up, swot, swot up.

hit the books (verb)	cram (verb)
learn by reading books	prepare (students) hastily for an impending exam
	study intensively, as before an exam
	crowd or pack to capacity
	put something somewhere so that the space is completely filled