Adjacent Words

Dam definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

DAM, n.
1. A female parent; used of beasts, particularly of quadrupeds.
2. A human mother, in contempt.
3. A crowned man in the game of draughts.
DAM, n. A mole, bank or mound of earth, or any wall, or a frame of wood, raised to obstruct a current of water, and to raise it, for the purpose of driving millwheels, or for other purposes. Any work that stops and confines water in a pond or bason, or causes it to rise.
DAM, v.t.
1. To make a dam, or to stop a stream of water by a bank of earth, or by any other work; to confine or shut in water. It is common to use, after the verb, in, up, or out; as, to dam in, or to dam up, the water, and to dam out is to prevent water from entering.
2. To confine or restrain from escaping; to shut in.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea [syn: dam, dike, dyke]
2: a metric unit of length equal to ten meters [syn: decameter, dekameter, decametre, dekametre, dam, dkm]
3: female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock v
1: obstruct with, or as if with, a dam; "dam the gorges of the Yangtse River" [syn: dam, dam up]

Merriam Webster's

biographical name (Carl Peter) Henrik 1895-1976 Danish biochemist

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English dam, dame lady, dam — more at dame Date: 13th century the female parent of an animal and especially of a domestic animal II. noun Etymology: Middle English, probably from Middle Dutch; akin to Old English fordemman to stop up Date: 14th century 1. a body of water confined by a barrier 2. a. a barrier preventing the flow of water or of loose solid materials (as soil or snow); especially a barrier built across a watercourse for impounding water b. a barrier to check the flow of liquid, gas, or air III. transitive verb (dammed; damming) Date: 15th century 1. to provide or restrain with a dam <dam a river> 2. to stop up ; block <damming up their emotions> IV. abbreviation dekameter

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. --n. 1 a barrier constructed to hold back water and raise its level, forming a reservoir or preventing flooding. 2 a barrier constructed in a stream by a beaver. 3 anything functioning as a dam does. 4 a causeway. --v.tr. (dammed, damming) 1 furnish or confine with a dam. 2 (often foll. by up) block up; hold back; obstruct. Etymology: ME f. MLG, MDu. 2. n. the female parent of an animal, esp. a four-footed one. Etymology: ME: var. of DAME

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dam Dam, n. [Akin to OLG., D., & Dan. dam, G. & Sw. damm, Icel. dammr, and AS. fordemman to stop up, Goth. Fa['u]rdammjan.] 1. A barrier to prevent the flow of a liquid; esp., a bank of earth, or wall of any kind, as of masonry or wood, built across a water course, to confine and keep back flowing water. 2. (Metal.) A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace. Dam plate (Blast Furnace), an iron plate in front of the dam, to strengthen it.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dam Dam, n. [OE. dame mistress, lady; also, mother, dam. See Dame.] 1. A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother. Our sire and dam, now confined to horses, are a relic of this age (13th century) . . . .Dame is used of a hen; we now make a great difference between dame and dam. --T. L. K. Oliphant. The dam runs lowing up end down, Looking the way her harmless young one went. --Shak. 2. A kind or crowned piece in the game of draughts.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Dam Dam, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Damming.] 1. To obstruct or restrain the flow of, by a dam; to confine by constructing a dam, as a stream of water; -- generally used with in or up. I'll have the current in this place dammed up. --Shak. A weight of earth that dams in the water. --Mortimer. 2. To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain. The strait pass was dammed With dead men hurt behind, and cowards. --Shak. To dam out, to keep out by means of a dam.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(dams, damming, dammed) 1. A dam is a wall that is built across a river in order to stop the water flowing and to make a lake. ...plans to build a dam on the Danube River. N-COUNT 2. To dam a river means to build a dam across it. ...plans to dam the nearby Delaware River... VERB: V n

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

('em, ordinary Hebrew word for "mother"): Hebrew law prohibited the destruction of the "dam" and the young of birds at the same time, commanding that if the young be taken from a nest the dam be allowed to escape (De 22:6,7). In the same spirit it enjoined the taking of an animal for slaughter before it had been seven days with its "dam" (Ex 22:30; Le 22:27; compare Ex 23:19).

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Mother (of a beast), female parent.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A small Indian coin, mentioned in the Gentoo code of laws: hence etymologists may, if they please, derive the common expression, I do not care a dam, i.e. I do not care half a farthing for it.

Moby Thesaurus

arch dam, arrest, artificial lake, backstop, bamboo curtain, bank, bar, barrage, barrier, bayou lake, bear-trap dam, beaver dam, bind, block, block up, blockade, boom, bottle up, brake, breakwater, breastwork, brick wall, bring to, bring up short, buffer, bulkhead, bulwark, bung, caulk, check, checkmate, chink, choke, choke off, choke up, cistern, clog, clog up, cofferdam, congest, constipate, cork, countercheck, cover, curb, cut short, dam up, damp, dampen, dead water, deadlock, defense, delay, detain, dike, ditch, draw rein, earthwork, embankment, etang, farm pond, fence, fill, fill up, fishpond, foster mother, foul, freeze, freshwater lake, gate, genetrix, glacial lake, gravity dam, groin, halt, hinder, hold back, hold in check, hold up, hydraulic-fill dam, impede, inhibit, inland sea, intercept, interfere, intermeddle, interrupt, intervene, iron curtain, jam, jetty, keep back, keep in check, lagoon, laguna, lake, lakelet, landlocked water, leaping weir, levee, linn, loch, logjam, lough, ma, mam, mama, mammy, mater, materfamilias, maternal ancestor, matriarch, meddle, mere, milldam, millpond, millpool, moat, mole, mom, mommy, mother, mound, mummy, nyanza, obstipate, obstruct, oppose, oxbow lake, pack, parapet, plash, plug, plug up, pond, pondlet, pool, portcullis, puddle, pull up, put paid to, rampart, repress, reservoir, resist, restrain, retard, roadblock, rock-fill dam, salina, salt pond, scotch, seawall, set back, shutter dam, slacken, snub, spile, stagnant water, stalemate, stall, stanch, standing water, stay, stem, stem the tide, stench, stepmother, still water, stone wall, stop, stop cold, stop dead, stop short, stop up, stopper, stopple, stuff, stuff up, sump, suppress, tank, tarn, the old woman, tidal pond, volcanic lake, wall, water hole, water pocket, weir, well, wicket dam, work