▪ I. damp, n.1
(dæmp)
In 5 domp.
[Corresponds with MLG. and mod.Du. and Da. damp vapour, steam, smoke, mod.Icel. dampr steam, MHG. dampf, tampf, mod.Ger. dampf vapour, steam; cf. also Sw. damb dust. The word is not known in the earlier stages of the languages, and its history in Eng. before its appearance in 1480 is unknown; it is difficult to conceive of its having come down from OE. times without appearing in writing. See damp v.]
† 1. a. An exhalation, a vapour or gas, of a noxious kind. Obs. exc. as in b.
| 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. lxxv. 58 After this dragon shal come a goot and ther shal come oute of his nostrel a domp that shal betoken honger and grete deth of peple. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 8 b, The Fennes and Marshes, in the heate of the yeere, doo send foorth pestilent and deadly dampes. 1586 Cogan Haven Health 243 (The Plague) All infected in a manner at one instant by reason of a dampe or miste which arose within the Castle yeard. |
| 1606 Dekker Sev. Sinnes vii. (Arb.) 47 What rotten stenches, and contagious damps would strike vp into thy nosthrils? 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 121 It [the Catacombs] is a horrid place to go into and dangerous, for fear of damps. 1744 Berkeley Siris §144 In poisonous damps or steams, wherein flame cannot be kindled, as is evident in the Grotto del Cane near Naples. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 31 Exposed..to the damps and exhalations of the earth. 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 52 The mode of keeping out the damps of ditch-water by burnt brandy. |
b. spec. in coal mines: (a) = choke-damp; also called black damp, and suffocating damp. (b) = fire-damp, formerly fulminating damp.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §375 We see Lights will go out in the Damps of Mines. 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 44 The Colliers..retired immediately and saved themselves from the eruptions of the Damp. 1670 W. Simpson Hydrol. Ess. 97 A sulphureous damp..which by the flame of a candle..might very probably take fire. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iv. (1723) 227 One is called the Suffocating, the other the Fulminating Damp. 1774 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1772, 50 The damp or fiery vapour was conveyed through pipes to the open air, and formed a terrible illumination. c 1790 J. Imison Sch. Art i. 106 Air that has lost its vivifying spirit is called damp..The dreadful effects of damps are known to such as work in mines. 1836 Scenes of Commerce 334 The miners..also meet with foul air, called by them the black damp..which suffocates the instant it is inhaled. |
| fig. a 1592 H. Smith Wks. (1866) I. 367 The remembrance of death is like a damp, which puts out all the lights of pleasure. 1642 Vind. King i, An open Presse to cleere every imagination which is not stifled in this Dampe. |
† 2. Visible vapour; fog, mist. Obs.
(This being usually humid gives rise to the sense of ‘moisture’ in 3.)
| 1601 Shakes. All's Well ii. i. 166 Ere twice in murke and occidentall dampe Moist Hesperus hath quench'd her sleepy Lampe. 1739 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. III. 8, I have lost all my bad symptoms, and am ready to think I could even bear the damps of London. 1742 Young Nt.-Th. ii. 688 While rising vapours, and descending shades, With damps and darkness drown the spacious vale. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. iii. 654 Thou darkening sky Deepen thy damps, the fiend of death is nigh. |
| fig. 1625 Donne 3rd Serm. John i. 8 Yet there is a damp or a cloud of uncharitableness. 1751 Smollett Per. Pic. (1779) III. lxxxi. 182 He hangs like a damp upon society, and may be properly called kill-joy. 1827 Pollok Course T. iii, Sin, with cold, consumptive breath, Involved it still in clouds of mortal damp. |
3. a. Moisture (diffused through the air as vapour, or through a solid substance, or condensed upon a surface); dampness, humidity. (The ordinary current sense.)
| [1586 Cogan Haven Health ccxli, The coldnesse of stones and the dampe of the earth are both verie hurtfull to our bodies.] 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Damp, Moisture, Wetness. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 11 ¶10 He..may set at defiance the morning mist and the evening damp. 1806 T. S. Surr Winter in Lond. (ed. 3) III. 66 We keep fires in all the rooms by turns, so that no damp has come to the tapestry. 1838 Lytton Alice i. vi, Mrs. Merton, who was afraid of the damp, preferred staying within. 1875 Jevons Money xi. 129 To corrode by exposure to air or damp. |
b. with pl. (Usually more concrete in sense.)
| [1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 42 b, Howe so ever the Barne be, you must place it as hie as you may, least ye corne be spoyled with moysture or dampes.] 1721 R. Bradley Wks. Nat. 166 An Hygrometer in the..Conservatory, by which we might regulate the over Moisture or Damps in the Air of the House. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian xxvi, Cold damps which hung upon his forehead betrayed the agony of his mind. 1839 Longfellow Voices of Nt., L'Envoi., Amid the chills and damps Of the vast plain where death encamps. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. I. 120 Covered with damps, which collected and fell upon us in occasional drops. |
c. slang. A drink, a ‘wetting’. (damp v. 5 b.)
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxvii, We'll just give ourselves a damp, Sammy. |
† 4. A dazed or stupefied condition; loss of consciousness or vitality, stupor. Obs. (Cf. damp v. 2.)
| 1542 Becon David's Harp 150 b, He was in a trauns, that is to say in a dampe, a stupour, abashement, and soden privacion of sence or fealyng. 1552 Huloet, Traunce or dampe, ecstasis. 1667 Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 140 [It did] strike him into a damp, and being carried thence in a chaire to his chamber, died the next day. 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 293 Adam by this from the cold sudden damp Recovering, and his scatterd spirits returnd. 1711 Vind. Sacheverell 94 He..struck a damp upon W[hig]g[i]sm, and laid it in a State of Death. 1712 Addison Spect. No. 538 ¶3, I felt a general Damp and a Faintness all over me. |
5. A state of dejection; depression of spirits.
| 1606 G. W[oodcocke] tr. Justin 22 a, Their heartes were stricken into a great dampe, and were so discouraged, that [etc.]. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. (1702) I. 550 He found a great damp upon the spirit of the Governour. 1692 R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. x. xii. (1733) 275 The Dread of this Decree, put all People into a general Damp and Silence. 1760 Impostors Detected I. 13 [This] put a sudden damp to their zeal. 1838 Prescott Ferd. & Is. (1846) I. ix. 398 This news struck a damp into the hearts of the Castilians. 1840 Browning Sordello v. 433 This idle damp Befits not. |
6. A check, discouragement.
| 1587 Greene Carde of Fancie Wks. 1882 IV. 59 To driue him more into doleful dumps shee returned him this damp. 1642 Chas. I Declar. 12 Aug. 18 Such a dampe of Trade in the Citie. 1680–90 Temple Ess. Pop. Discontents Wks. 1731 I. 268 Some little Damps would be given to that pestilent Humour and general Mistake. 1769 Burke Observ. Late State Nation Wks. 1842 I. 92 Those accidents that cast an occasional damp upon trade. 1832 H. Martineau Life in Wilds vi. 70 A sudden damp seemed to be cast over all the plans. |
7. Comb., as † damp-hole (sense 1), damp-sheet (see quot. 1881); damp-proof, damp-worn (sense 3) adjs.; damp-course, prop. damp-proof course, ‘a course of some impermeable material laid on the foundation walls of a building a short distance above the level of the outside soil, to prevent the damp from rising up the walls’ (Gwilt); damp-proofed ppl. a., rendered impervious to damp; damp-proofing vbl. n. (also attrib.).
| 1876 *Damp course [see damp-proof course below]. 1890 A. Whitlegge Hygiene vi. 150 A ‘damp-course’ must be provided, that is a continuous horizontal course of glazed earthenware, slate, or other impervious material. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny I. 41 Which *dampe holes breathing out a deadly aire. |
| 1870 English Mechanic XII. 262 *Damp-proof paper.—Can any of your readers inform me where to obtain paper which will be unaffected by constant damp? 1889 F. E. Gretton Memory's Harkback 199 Provided your day be fine, and your shoes damp-proof. |
| 1876 Encycl. Brit. IV. 462/2 A *damp-proof course, intended to prevent that rise of damp from the soil in the brickwork... This damp course is formed in various ways, as a layer of asphalt, or asphalt canvas, or some similar material. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 50/2 Sanitary Stoneware of every description, including..air-bricks, damp-proof course. 1963 Gloss. Build. Terms (B.S.I.) 17 Damp-proof membrane, a damp-proof course within a floor or flat roof. |
| 1962 Times 3 Dec. (Agric. Suppl.) p. iii/4 A *damp-proofed floor. |
| 1934 H. Hiler Notes on Technique of Painting i. 38 Any good *damp-proofing solution, such as shellac dissolved in petrol, etc. 1962 Listener 22 Mar. 534/2 You can get heat-resisting, mould-resisting, and damp-proofing paints. |
| 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Damp sheet, a large sheet, placed as a curtain or partition across a gate-road to stop and turn an air-current. |
| 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. II. xviii. 5 The time and *damp-worn monuments. |
▪ II. damp, n.2
Variant of dam n.4
▪ III. damp, a.
(dæmp)
[f. damp n.1]
† 1. Of the nature of, or belonging to, a ‘damp’ or noxious exhalation: see damp n.1 1. Obs.
| 1634 Milton Comus 470 Such are those thick and gloomy shadows damp Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres. 1671 ― Samson 8 The air, imprison'd also, close and damp, Unwholesome draught. 1733 Sir J. Lowther Damp Air in Coal-pit in Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 112 It is to be observed that this sort of Vapour, or damp Air, will not take Fire except by Flame. |
† 2. Affected with or showing stupefaction or depression of spirits; dazed, stupefied. Obs. or arch.
| 1590 Greene Never too late Canzone, An object twice as bright, So gorgeous as my senses all were damp [rime lamp]. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 523 With looks Down cast and damp. Ibid. v. 65 Mee damp horror chil'd. 1697 Dryden Virg. æneid vi. 85 The trembling Trojans hear, O're-spread with a damp sweat and holy fear. 1843 J. Martineau Chr. Life (1867) 473 Murky doubts and damp short-sightedness. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes liv, The dinner was rather a damp entertainment. |
3. Slightly wet as with steam, suspended vapour, dew, or mist; holding water in suspension or absorption; moist, humid. (The ordinary current sense.)
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Damp, to make damp, or moist. 1735 Berkeley Querist §412 A cold, damp, sordid habitation, in the midst of a bleak country. 1748 F. Smith Voy. Disc. N.W. Pass. I. 21 The Weather..disagreeably damp from the great Wetting of the Fog. 1874 Kingsley Lett. (1878) II. 429 We have come out of intense winter into damp spring. Mod. A cold caught by sleeping in a damp bed. |
4. As quasi-adv. in damp-dry v. trans. and intr., to dry to the state of being only damp.
| 1956 N.Y. Times 15 Jan. 65 (Advt)., It automatically fills, washes, rinses, damp dries, shuts itself off! 1960 Daily Mail 9 Feb. 8/8 Incidentally, a spin drier damp dries. 1961 M. Beadle These Ruins are Inhabited (1963) iii. 39 If fed a shilling, this latter [sc. a gas heater] will yield enough warmth to damp-dry socks draped on the rungs of a chair. |
▪ IV. damp, v.
(dæmp)
[f. damp n.1; frequent from c 1550. Ger. dampfen, Du. dampen, also go back to the 16th c.; in Ger. a causal dempfen appears to go back to OHG. (demphan:—*dampian). For dampped in Allit. Poems B. 989, see dump.]
1. a. trans. To affect with ‘damp’, to stifle, choke, extinguish; to dull, deaden (fire, sound, etc.). Also fig.
| 1564 tr. Jewel's Apol. Ch. Eng. iv. (Parker Soc.) 82 Their own matter is damped, and destroyed in the word of God as if it were in poison [in veneno extingui vident et suffocari]. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxiii. §2 An euill moral disposition..dampeth the very light of heauenly illumination. 1626 Bacon Sylva §147 All shutting in of Air, where there is no competent Vent, dampeth the Sound. 1637 Shirley Lady of Pleas. iv. i, Her phlegm would quench a furnace, and her breath Would damp a musket ball. 1705 A. van Leeuwenhoek in Phil. Trans. XXV. 2159 If we take a piece of Wood-coal, that has been damp'd or extinguished. 1818 Blackw. Mag. II. 528 Having damped his own appetite with a couple of slices. Mod. To damp a fire with small coal. |
b. to damp down (a fire or furnace): to cover or fill it with small coal, ashes, or coke, so as to check combustion and prevent its going out, when not required for some time. Also fig.
| 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 278 Fire which must not be permitted to damp itself down. 1884 Pall Mall G. 20 Feb. 2/1 The notices terminate at the end of the month..and the furnaces will be damped down. Ibid. 28 Aug. 1/1 Mr. Gladstone's speeches may tend to damp down the agitation. |
c. Acoustics, Music, etc. To stop the vibrations of a string or the like; to furnish (the strings of a pianoforte) with dampers. In wider use: to impose or to act as a resisting influence on (an oscillation or vibration of any kind) so that it is either progressively reduced in amplitude or, if the resistance is sufficiently great, converted into non-oscillatory return to an equilibrium position; also used with the oscillating body as obj. So to damp out: to damp, to extinguish by damping. So damped ppl. a.
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 140 A piece of cloth..to damp or stop the string [in a clavichord]. 1877 Phil. Mag. III. 482 The measurement of a resistance according to Weber's method of ‘damped vibrations’. 1883 A. J. Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. III. 636 The higher treble of the piano is not now damped. 1897 Nichols & Franklin Elem. Physics III. xv. 168 The vibrations of a heavy, elastic body, such as a tuning fork, are but slightly damped. 1899 Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A. CXCII. 247 Any natural vibrations of the suspended system would be rapidly damped out. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XX. 348/1 This needle..must be so damped that when the current is cut off it returns to zero at once without over⁓shooting the mark. 1922 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics II. 1040/2 The above methods of detection are appropriate for the reception of damped wave signals but not for continuous wave signals. 1927 E. G. Richardson Sound iv. 121 All vibrations of solids of whatever type are damped by internal friction. 1929 E. Mallett Telegr. & Teleph. xii. 320 The discharge current is oscillatory and of the ‘damped wave’ form. 1935 F. J. Camm Pract. Motorist's Encycl. 82/2 The leaf-springs of the car's suspension system..damp-out a large proportion of the road shocks and vibrations suffered by the wheels of the car. 1940 Illustr. London News CXCVI. 576, I was very impressed by the springing, which damped-out all but exceptionally bad bumps on the road. 1950 Engineering 7 Apr. 397/1 Spring-loaded clamping devices heavily damped by hydraulic means to provide virtually solid clamping. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 175/1 The low elasticity of the gut causes these high constituents [of the note] to be quickly damped. 1961 Bickley & Talbot Introd. Theory Vibrating Systems iv. 37 We consider the typical case of a mass m controlled by a spring of stiffness s damped by a resistance proportional to the speed. |
d. Magnetism. To stop the oscillations of a magnetic needle by placing a mass of conducting metal near it.
| 1879 Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §379 The oscillations of a magnetized needle about its position of equilibrium are ‘damped’ by placing a plate of copper below it. |
† 2. To stifle (the faculties) with noxious ‘fumes’; to stupefy, benumb, daze. Obs.
| 1570 Dee Math. Pref. 1 The fantasies of those hearers were dampt. 1633 T. Adams Exp. 2 Pet. ii. 20 (1865) 559 The lusts of the flesh, like the vapours of a replete stomach rising up and damping the brain. 1716 Bentley Serm. xi. 375 We may damp or stifle them [our Faculties] by Sloth and Neglect. 1726 Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 5 a, The Understanding can never be clear, the Spirits being dampt and stupify'd. |
3. To deaden to restrain the ardour or energy of; to depress, deject, discourage, check. a. persons, their spirits, zeal, hopes, etc.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. iii. (R.), That..they that were puffed vp before..should bee damped, and be brought lowe. 1654 Trapp Comm. Job xiii. 15 As that woman of Canaan..who would not be damped or discouraged with Christs..silence. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 24 Nor shall their scorne spoyle good purposes, by damping my resolutions. 1748 Anson's Voy. i. i. 11 Our hopes of a speedy departure were even now somewhat damped. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. v, This is the way you always damp my girls and me when we are in spirits. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 166 Sorrow damps my lays. 1876 J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. II. ii. ii. 242 How little his personal troubles had damped his evangelical zeal. 1887 Frith Autobiog. I. xxiii. 329 Damped by the indifference of my artist-friends. |
b. actions, projects, trade, etc. Now rare.
| 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xvi. (R.), To dampe y⊇ taunting mockes of such persones. 1622 Bacon Hen. VII, 75 To stop and dampe Informations upon Penall Lawes, by procuring Informations by collusion. 1689 C. Mather in Andros Tracts (1869) 13 The Courses immediately taken to damp and spoyl our Trade. 1787 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) II. 89 To damp that freedom of communication which the resolution of Congress..was intended to re-establish. 1832 Austin Jurispr. (1879) I. vi. 301 If they think..that a political institution damps production and accumulation. |
† 4. To envelop in fog or mist; also fig.
| 1629 Donne Serm. Matt. xi. 6 If my religion did wrap me in a continual cloud..damp me in a continual vapour, smoke me in a continual sourness. |
5. a. To make moist or humid, to wet as steam, vapour, mist, or dew does; to moisten.
| 1671 R. Bohun Wind 14 They [winds from South] damp innen and paper, though never so carefully guarded from the Air. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (ed. 11) 129 That baneful custom said to be practised in many inns, of damping sheets, and pressing them in order to save washing. 1868 Hawthorne Amer. Note-Bks. (1879) I. 180 The dew damped the road. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts III. 648 The paper used in printing is always damped before being sent to the press, wet paper taking the ink considerably better than dry. |
b. refl. To take a drink, ‘wet one's whistle’. slang.
| 1862 Lowell Biglow P. Poems 1890 II. 283 A tent..Where you could go, ef you wuz dry, an' damp ye in a minute. |
6. Gardening. to damp off (intr.): Of plants: To rot or go off from damp; to fog off.
| 1846 J. W. Loudon Gardening for Ladies 90 Cuttings when thus treated are very apt to damp off. 1881 Gard. Chron. XVI. 690 See that none of the spikes touch the glass or they may speedily damp off. |
▪ V. damp
obs. var. dam n.1; obs. (erron.) form of damn.