dam
1a barrier to obstruct the flow of water, especially one of earth, masonry, etc., built across a stream or river.
a body of water confined by a dam.
any barrier resembling a dam.
to furnish with a dam; obstruct or confine with a dam.
to stop up; block up.
Origin of dam
1Other words for dam
Other definitions for dam (2 of 4)
a female parent (used especially of four-footed domestic animals).
Origin of dam
2Other definitions for dam (3 of 4)
dekameter; dekameters.
Other definitions for Dam (4 of 4)
(Carl Pe·ter) Hen·rik [kahrl pee-ter hen-rik; Danish kahrl pey-tuhr-hen-rik], /kɑrl ˈpi tɛr ˈhɛn rɪk; Danish kɑrl ˈpeɪ tər ˈhɛn rɪk/, 1895–1976, Danish biochemist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1943.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use dam in a sentence
Add in the Earth material that we use and abuse in other ways, in ploughing farmland, and letting sediment pile up behind dams, and humans have cumulatively used and discarded some 30 trillion tons of Earth’s various resources.
Anthropocene: Human-Made Materials Now Weigh as Much as All Living Biomass, Say Scientists | Jan Zalasiewicz | December 24, 2020 | Singularity HubSwaths of China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the US were transformed by huge water projects, dams, and irrigation systems.
Why people still starve in an age of abundance | Bobbie Johnson | December 17, 2020 | MIT Technology ReviewThe Appalachian Mountains often trap the dense, icy air layer, known as a cold air dam, while Atlantic winds usher in a milder air mass that glides up and over the top.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington PostThere, a stalled frontal boundary enabled milder air to slide up and over the cold air dam.
Ice storms: Inside wintertime’s dreaded, frozen mess | Jeffrey Halverson | December 2, 2020 | Washington PostIf you’re fishing a transitional area, like a dam or a water-control structure, simply park yourself on the edge and shoot fish as they pass.
Don’t have a boat? Try bowfishing. | By Natalie Krebs/Outdoor Life | November 3, 2020 | Popular-Science
She was like a dammed-up stream that suddenly finds an outlet.
Quin | Alice Hegan RiceFailing that a dammed-up pond may form the only supply of water.
Mexico | Charles Reginald EnockIt is as if all this had been dammed up in his heart for long, and to say a single word was to say everything.
Expositor's Bible: The Second Epistle to the Corinthians | James DenneyThe very minor circumstance of their landlady being in the room dammed a flood.
Lord Ormont and his Aminta, Complete | George MeredithFortunately the river was partly dammed, in order to accumulate water for the many saw-mills under the falls.
Boyhood in Norway | Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen
British Dictionary definitions for dam (1 of 5)
/ (dæm) /
a barrier of concrete, earth, etc, built across a river to create a body of water for a hydroelectric power station, domestic water supply, etc
a reservoir of water created by such a barrier
something that resembles or functions as a dam
(tr often foll by up) to obstruct or restrict by or as if by a dam
Origin of dam
1British Dictionary definitions for dam (2 of 5)
/ (dæm) /
the female parent of an animal, esp of domestic livestock
Origin of dam
2British Dictionary definitions for dam (3 of 5)
/ (dæm) /
(often used in combination) a variant spelling of damn (def. 1), damn (def. 2), damn (def. 3), damn (def. 4) damfool; dammit
British Dictionary definitions for dam (4 of 5)
decametre(s)
British Dictionary definitions for Dam (5 of 5)
/ (Danish dam) /
(Carl Peter) Henrik (ˈhɛnrəɡ). 1895–1976, Danish biochemist who discovered vitamin K (1934): Nobel prize for physiology or medicine 1943
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with dam
see water over the dam.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Browse