Dam
Dam (dam) , noun
[Old English 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.
The dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went.
2.
A king or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
Dam , noun
[Akin to OLG., Dutch, & Danish dam, German & Swedish damm, Icelandic dammr, and Anglo-Saxon fordemman to stop up, Gothic Faúrdammjan.]
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.
(Metallurgy) A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.
Collocations (1)
Dam plate (Blast Furnace) , an iron plate in front of the dam, to strengthen it.
Dam (damd) , transitive verb
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.
A weight of earth that dams in the water.
2.
To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain.
The strait pass was dammed
With dead men hurt behind, and cowards.
Collocations (1)
To dam out , to keep out by means of a dam.