dam

Use dam in a sentence

The Glen Canyon dam in Arizona.

noun

The definition of a dam is something that holds back water, or the body of water that is being held.
1. An example of a dam is rubber sheet put around a tooth to keep it dry during a dental procedure.
2. An example of a dam is the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in Nevada.

verb

Dam is defined as to create a barrier to hold back liquid.
An example of dam is building a rock wall across a stream.

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"dam." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam>.

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dam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam

dam

a barrier built to hold back flowing water
the water thus kept back
any barrier like a dam, as a rubber sheet used in dentistry to keep a tooth dry

Origin of dam

Middle English from Germanic base seen in MLowG, Middle Dutch dam, Old Norse dammr, Middle High German tam, Gothic faur-dammjan, to stop up from Indo-European base an unverified form dh?-, to set, put in place from source do, Classical Latin facere

transitive verb

dammed, dam′ming

to build a dam in
to keep back or confine by or as by a dam: usually with up

the female parent of any four-legged, esp. domestic, animal
Archaic a mother

Origin of dam

ME, variant, variety of dame, dame

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"dam." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam>.

APA Style

dam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam

dam

noun

a. A barrier constructed across a waterway to control the flow or raise the level of water.
b. A body of water controlled by such a barrier.
A barrier against the passage of liquid or loose material, as a rubber sheet used in dentistry to isolate one or more teeth from the rest of the mouth.

transitive verb

dammed, dam·ming, dams

To hold back or confine by means of a dam.
To close up; obstruct: He tried to dam his grief.

Origin of dam

Middle English

Related Forms:

dam′mer
noun

dam1

Shasta Dam, on the Sacramento River, near Redding, California

noun

A female parent of an animal, especially a domesticated mammal such as a horse.
Archaic A mother.

Origin of dam

Middle English dam, dame lady, mother ; see dame .

abbreviation

decameter

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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MLA Style

"dam." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam>.

APA Style

dam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam

Noun

(plural dams)

A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow.
A dam is often an essential source of water to farmers of hilly country.
(dentistry) A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band.
(South Africa) A reservoir.
A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.

Verb

(third-person singular simple present dams, present participle damming, simple past and past participle dammed)

To block the flow of water.

Origin

From Middle Dutch, Middle Low German dam, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

Noun

(plural dams)

Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals (correlative to sire).
A kind of crowned piece in the game of draughts.

Origin

Variant of dame.

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.

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MLA Style

"dam." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 15 March 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam>.

APA Style

dam. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/Dam

dam - Computer Definition

(Digital Asset Management) Keeping track of the digital assets of an organization. Companies have come to own a huge amount of digitally created material that needs to be stored, cataloged and easily retrieved. See DAMS.

Computer Desktop Encyclopedia THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher. © 1981-2017 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved.