▪ I. dam, n.1
(dæm)
Forms: 4– dam, 4–7 damme, 5–6 dame, (6 dampne, 7 damn(e, damp, damb), 7–8 damm.
[Common Teut. = OFris. dam, dom, MDu. dam(m), MLG. and Du. dam, MHG. tam, mod.G. damm (from LG.), Norse dammr (14–15th c.), Sw., Da. dam. The earlier existence of the word is proved by the derivative vbs., Goth. faurdammjan to stop up, OE. dęmman, OFris. dęmmen, MHG. temmen, Ger. dämmen: see dem v.]
1. a. A bank or barrier of earth, masonry, etc., constructed across a stream to obstruct its flow and raise its level, so as to make it available for turning a mill-wheel or for other purposes; a similar work constructed to confine water so as to form a pond or reservoir, or to protect land from being flooded.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 113 Dame, or hye bankys (K. dam or heybanck), agger. 1530 Palsgr. 212/1 Damme of a myll, escluse. 1626 T. H[awkins] Caussin's Holy Crt. 525 As a Torrent, which after it hath a long tyme been restrayned, breaketh the forced dammes, and..drowneth the fields. c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon (1714) II. 152 Whose House was called Hemeanton, now Weare, by Reason of certain Damps. which we call Weares. 1650 H. Brooke Conserv. Health 93 Banks and Dambs. 1832 Tennyson Miller's Dau. 99 The sleepy pool above the dam, The Pool beneath it never still. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 71, 50 dams across rivers, to promote irrigation. |
b. The barrier constructed in a stream by beavers.
| 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.-W. Pass. 139 The Plenty of Water was..owing to its being kept up by Dams, the work of the Beavers; which..had also built a House on the side of this Creek. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 89 Beavers..keep the water at an equal height, by dams composed of branches of trees, mixed with clay and stones. 1875 Whitney Life Lang. xiv. 290 Building a particular style of shelter, as the beaver its dam. |
c. A causeway through fens.
| 1809 Crabbe Tales, Lover's Journey, When next appear'd a dam,—so call the place,—Where lies a road confined in narrow space..on either side Is level fen. |
d. fig.
| 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. iii, The States of Venice Like high-swoln floods drive down the muddie dammes of pent allegeance. 1642 Rogers Naaman 528 To keep up the damme of their owne consciences from breaking in upon them. a 1711 Ken Hymnotheo Poet. Wks. 1721 III. 138 Thou down the sensual Dam dost throw, Which made me stagnate here below. |
2. a. The body of water confined by a dam or embankment. (Now local, Yorkshire, etc.)
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 312 Þy stryuande stremez..In on daschande dam, dryuez me ouer. a 1340 Hampole Psalter 509 Þe dam of waters [gurges aquarum]. 1391 Selby Cartulary (Yorks. Archæol. Soc.) I. 4 Indentura..de Stagno vocato le Damme [Selby Dam]. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 736/29 Hoc stangnum, a dame. c 1530 Remedy of Love xxxv, Wer..All water ynke in damme or in flood. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. i. 642 As a damme of water stopt in one place breaks out into another. 1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Travels v. 103 The industry of the Boers augurs well for future formation of dams and tanks. c 1869 Gatty Hunter's Hallamshire ix. 186 note, Several of the smaller dams at Crook's Moor [Sheffield] were filled up in 1839..The large dams are still made use of by the company. 1884 A. K. Johnston Africa (ed. 4) xxiv. 391 Wherever there is a homestead, there is generally a water ‘dam’, with an orchard and garden. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Dam, a piece of water impounded by damming up a stream. 1892 Lentzner Australian Word-bk. 19 Dam (up-country), a pond for watering cattle..made by throwing up a bank across a hollow or little gully. |
b. In south of Scotland, the stream of water from a weir or pond, which drives a mill; a mill-race; tail-dam, a tail-race. (The dam in sense 1 is a ‘cauld’.)
3. A flat land from which water is drained off and excluded. local.
| 1629 S'hertogenbosh 13 It lyeth as it were in a Myre, hauing on the one side a small moore or damp. 1800 in G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads xv. (1884) 107 Tame and meadowed flats, here called dams, between Yarmouth and Norwich, producing turf, peat, furze, flag and sedge. |
4. a. Mining. A partition of boards, masonry, etc. in a mine to keep out water, fire, or gas. b. Smelting. (See quot. 1881.) c. floating dam: † (a) = camel n. 2; (b) ‘a caisson used instead of gates for a dry-dock’ (Smyth Sailor's Word-bk.).
| 1706 Lond. Gaz. No. 4262/3 A Machine, termed a Floating-Damm, whereby he is capable of carrying Barges..over..Shallows. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Dam..the wall of refractory material, forming the front of the fore-hearth of a blast furnace. It is built on the inside of a supporting iron plate (dam-plate). |
d. A reservoir or tank, as of loam and brick construction, in which metal is collected for heavy castings.
| a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 674/2. 1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 299/2 The tymp arch usually projects a little forward from the earth wall, constituting the ‘fore hearth’, at the base of the front of which is the dam, a block of stone or mass of firebrick pierced by a vertical cavity..through which the molten pig iron is drawn off from time to time. |
e. In full rubber dam. A sheet of soft rubber pierced with one or more holes and fitted in the mouth so as to protect the exposed tooth or teeth from saliva while a filling or other operation is done; also (without an article), rubber in the form used for this purpose. Chiefly U.S.
It was invented by S. C. Barnum, of New York, in 1864.
| 1872 L. P. Meredith Teeth 117 By the use of the rubber-dam inconvenience and unsuccessful operations may be avoided. 1908 G. E. Hunt in C. N. Johnson Text-bk. Oper. Dentistry ix. 146 For operations on the anterior six teeth a triangular shaped piece of dam will be found both efficient and economical. 1927 J. D. H. Jamieson Oper. Dentistry iii. 30 It is used in the form of strips of rubberdam. Ibid. 33 Rubberdam is supplied in three grades of thickness. 1940 S. D. Tylman Theory & Pract. Crown & Bridge Prosthesis xxiii. 284 In those patients whose flow of saliva is copious, much time may be saved by the use of a rubber dam. 1969 R. E. McDonald Dentistry for Child & Adolescent x. 176/2 A few explanatory words and referral to the rubber dam as a ‘raincoat’ for the tooth or as a ‘Halloween mask’ will invariably allay the child's fear. |
5. Comb., as dam-like adj.; dam-head (Sc.), a weir or cauld on a river for diverting the water into a mill-race; dam-plate, dam-stone (see quot. and sense 4 b); † dam-shed (Sc.), ‘a portion of land bordering on a dam’ (Jam.). See also coffer-dam, mill-dam.
| 1540 Sc. Acts Jas. V (1814) 37 The dene of Logy, dame and damsched tharof, and thair pertinentis. 1760 Wark in Phil. Trans. LII. 2 Locks and dam-heads might be raised..by the help of furze. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. v. (1869) II. 86 As much water must run over the dam-head as if there was no dam at all. 1820 Scott Monast. v, A stong wear or damhead, running across the river. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Dam-plate, the plate upon the dam-stone or front stone of the bottom of a blast furnace. |
▪ II. dam, n.2
(dæm)
Forms: 3– dam, 4–7 damme, 6 dambe, 6–7 damm.
[A variant of dame, also written from 14th c. damme, retaining the short sound of F. a; originally used in all the senses, but from about the 16th c. differentiated.]
† 1. = dame. Obs.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11732 Dam Maud þe Mortimer. a 1300 Cursor M. 2312 (Cott.) Melche, loth, and dam sarra. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 1273 Dam fortone..turnes about ay hir whele. c 1382 Wyclif Pref. Epist. vi. 67/1 The olde chaterynge damme. c 1430 Hymns Virg. 3 (Mätz.) Þou deintiest damme. |
2. A female parent (of animals, now usually of quadrupeds). Correlative to sire.
| 1320 [see dame 8 b]. 1486 Bk. St. Albans E iv a, A fawne sowkyng on his dam. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §68 A sandy colte..neyther lyke syre nor damme. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 363 The duckling, the first day [can] swim in the water with his dam. 1665 Hooke Microgr. 216, I have observed the young ones of some Spiders have almost kept the same proportion to their Dam. 1697 Dryden Virg. Eclog. i. 32 So Kids and Whelps their Sires and Dams express. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 25 Calves..taken from the dam in a savage state. 1834 Mudie Brit. Birds (1841) I. 301 And when the dam [robin] leaves her eggs. 1870 Bryant Iliad I. v. 162 Two young lions, nourished by their dam. |
† b. Phr. the devil and his dam; the devil's dam, applied opprobriously to a woman. Obs.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 284 Rys vp ragamoffyn and reche me alle þe barres, That belial þy bel-syre beot with þy damme. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 1070 The deuyll or hys dam. 1588 Shakes. Com. Err. iv. iii. 51 Ant. It is the diuell. S. Dro. Nay, she is worse, she is the diuels dam. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 350 Such..Sayings are a Discredit to your self. As for instance..the Devil and his Dam. 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict. ii, Trivenefica, a great witch, a devil's dam. |
3. = Mother (human): usually in contempt.
| a 1547 Surrey Aeneid iv. 477 Ne Goddesse was thy dam [nec tibi Diva parens]. 1606 Choice, Chance, etc. (1881) 66 His Dad a Tinker, and his Dam a Tit. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. iii. 94 This Brat is none of mine..Hence with it, and together with the Dam, Commit them to the fire. 1801 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tears & Sm. Wks. 1812 V. 55 And said, that George allowed his dam But thirty pounds a year. |
4. fig.
| c 1540 Pilgr. T. in Thynne Animadv. App. i. 80 As we be taught of the churche our dam. 1594 Barnfield Aff. Sheph. ii. liv, Ignorance..the Damme of Errour. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iv. i. ii. 648 That high Priest of Rome, the dam of that monstrous and superstitious breed. 1892 R. Kipling Barrack-room Ballads (ed. 2) 80 What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest..with Death? |
5. Comb.
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. iv. Captains 1237 Dam-Murdering Vipers, Monsters in-humane. 1622 Boys Wks. 936 As the carefull Dam-bird [loves] her unfeathered brood. |
▪ III. dam, n.3 Chiefly Sc.
Forms: 6 damme, 7 dame, 9 dam.
[a. F. dame lady (dam2, dame), the name of each piece in the jeu de dames or draughts, esp. of the crowned pieces which can move forwards or backwards; in Ger. dame (damenspiel, damspiel draughts), Du. dam (damspel draughts): cf. dambrod.]
Each of the pieces in the game of draughts or checkers (obs.); pl. the game itself.
App. in early times a piece, pawn, or ‘man’ in various games. Dame is given by Cotgrave 1611 as ‘also, a man at Tables or Draughts’, and dames is the name of Draughts in Rabelais; Florio 1598 has Ital. ‘dame, men to play at tables or chesse with’.
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Le jeu des Merelles, the playe of dammes. [Cotgr. ‘Le Jeu des merelles, the boyish game called Merills, or fiue-pennie Morris; played here most commonly with stones, but in France with pawnes, or men made of purpose, and tearmed Merelles.’] 1653 Urquhart Rabelais 94 (Jam.) There he played at the Dames or draughts. 1814 Saxon & Gael I. 94 (Jam.) After playing twa or three games at the dams. 1828 Webster, Dam..3. a crowned man in the game of draughts. 1870 Ramsay Remin. vi. (ed. 18) 246 Dams were the pieces with which the game of draughts was played. |
▪ IV. † dam, n.4, damp Obs.
Also 6 dame.
[a. OF. dam (also dan, domp, dant, in nom. dans, danz):—L. dominus lord, used in OF. as a feudal title (ranking between comte and baron), but commonly prefixed to the name of a person by way of honour.]
Lord; as a prefix = Sir, Master. Cf. dan.
| c 1300 Havelok 2468 He knew, þe swike dam, Euerildel god was him gram. c 1375 Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 18 Dam Ieremy [v.rr. Dane Ieremi, Saynte Ierome] was his name. 1506 Bury Wills (Camden) 108 Dame John Barkyng, pytauncer of the monasterij in Bury. |
| c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. Prol. 26 (Harl.) Wherfor sir monk, damp Pieres by ȝour name. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 199 They met wyth damp Rambault, the free knyght. Ibid. ix. 201 Damp bysshop, ye be welcom. Ibid. xvi. 382 ‘Damp emperour’, sayd thenne the duke naymes. |
▪ V. dam, n.5 Obs. exc. Hist.
(dɑːm)
Also daum, dawm.
[Hind. dām.]
An Indian copper coin of the value of one fortieth of a rupee.
| 1781 F. Balfour tr. Forms of Herkern 39 The sum of twenty one lacks. of dams. 1801 R. Patton Asiat. Mon. 182 A crore of dams. 1871 in E. G. Balfour Cycl. India (ed. 2) II. 10. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 343/1 The gold coinage and the silver rupee are seldom seen [in Nepal], the ordinary currency consisting of the copper dāms and paisā, and the mōhar or half rupee. 1962 R. A. G. Carson Coins 515 On occasional issues both of Sher Shah and his successor Islam Shah (1545–52) the coins were struck on a square flan. A new denomination, the dam, was struck in copper at a weight of 21·5 gm. |
▪ VI. dam, v.1
(dæm)
Forms: 6–7 damme, (damn, 7 dambe), 7–8 damm, 6– dam.
[f. dam n.1; taking the place of the etymological dem, OE. dęmman, found in early ME. and existing dialects.]
1. trans. To furnish with a dam; to obstruct or confine (a stream, or water) by means of a dam. Usually with up; also (rarely) with back, out, etc.
| 1563 W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 57 Wells that have beene dammed up. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 106 He had dammed up the Rivers. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 171 Now dam the Ditches and the Floods restrain. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 253 The Mississippi forms long bars of sand, which frequently unite with some part of the coast, so as to dam out the sea and form lagoons. 1867 Parkman Jesuits N. Amer. xxi. (1875) 314 The beavers had dammed a brook and formed a pond. |
2. transf. and fig. To stop up, block, obstruct; to shut up, confine: a. things material.
| 1553 Brende Q. Curtius vii. iv. 132 The sand in the plaines is blowen together..wherby the accustomed wayes be damned. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 90 Hauing the Ouen the hotter within for that is was damd vp. 1603 Florio Montaigne i. xxiv. (1632) 61 Lamps dammed with too much oyle. 1652 Wadsworth tr. Sandoval's Civ. Wars Spain 351 Don Hernande..dammed up all the doors but one. 1794 Sullivan View Nat. I. 347 When a ridge of mountains thus dams the cloud. |
b. things immaterial.
| 1582 Bentley Mon. Matrones iii. 261 Vnthankfulnesse..dammeth vp the fountaine of thy godlie mercie. 1632 Sanderson 12 Serm. 522 He doth also dambe vp the mercy of God by his contempt. 1875 M{supc}Laren Serm. Ser. ii. iv. 66 His love [is] too divine for us to dam it back. a 1876 G. Dawson Improvers of Shaks., They dammed up all human energy into two channels—the chapel and the shop. |
▪ VII. † dam, v.2 Obs. rare.
[f. dam n.2]
To give birth to (young): said of animals.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iii. (1586) 139 Such [lambs] as are afterwarde dammed, are feeble and weake. |
▪ VIII. dam
var. damn.