tamp

[tamp]
verb (used with object)
1.
to force in or down by repeated, rather light, strokes: He tamped the tobacco in his pipe.
2.
(in blasting) to fill (a drilled hole) with earth or the like after the charge has been inserted.
Origin:
1810–20; perhaps alteration of tampion

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
tamp1 (tæmp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb
1.  to force or pack down firmly by repeated blows
2.  to pack sand, earth, etc into (a drill hole) over an explosive
 
[C17: probably a back formation from tampin (obsolete variant of tampion), which was taken as being a present participle tamping]

00:10
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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.
to spend time idly; loaf.
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tamp2 (tæmp) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb (usually foll by down)
1.  (tr) to bounce (a ball)
2.  to pour with rain
 
[probably special use of tamp1]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

tamp
1819, "to fill (a hole containing an explosive) with dirt or clay before blasting," a workmen's word, perhaps a back-formation from tampion, that word being mistaken as a prp. (*tamping).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

tamp definition


  1. n.
    a tampon. : You need a tamp, honey?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
Welders shall utilize as tamp to identify their work.
Then he began to tamp at the hole with a three-foot-seven-inch iron bar.
Even the administration seemed anxious to tamp down expectations.
Place concrete around posts in a continuous pour, tamp for consolidation.
Related Words
stem
tamper
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