DAM (dammed, damming)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: dammed    , damming   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does dam mean? 

• DAM (noun)
  The noun DAM has 3 senses:

1. a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea

2. a metric unit of length equal to ten meters

3. female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock

  Familiarity information: DAM used as a noun is uncommon.

• DAM (verb)
  The verb DAM has 1 sense:

1. obstruct with, or as if with, a dam

  Familiarity information: DAM used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DAM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

dam; dike; dyke

Hypernyms ("dam" is a kind of...):

barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "dam"):

milldam (dam to make a millpond to provide power for a water mill)

weir (a low dam built across a stream to raise its level or divert its flow)

Instance hyponyms:

Aswan High Dam; High Dam (one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt)

Glen Canyon Dam (a large dam built in 1964 on the Colorado River in Arizona)

Hoover Dam (a large dam built in 1933 on the Colorado River in Nevada)

Derivation:

dam (obstruct with, or as if with, a dam)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A metric unit of length equal to ten meters

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

dam; decameter; decametre; dekameter; dekametre; dkm

Hypernyms ("dam" is a kind of...):

metric linear unit (a linear unit of distance in metric terms)

Meronyms (parts of "dam"):

m; meter; metre (the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards))

Holonyms ("dam" is a part of...):

hectometer; hectometre; hm (a metric unit of length equal to 100 meters)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("dam" is a kind of...):

female (an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa))

• DAM (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they dam    ... he / she / it dams   
Past simple: dammed   
Past participle: dammed   
-ing form: damming   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Obstruct with, or as if with, a dam

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

dam; dam up

Context example:

dam the gorges of the Yangtse River

Hypernyms (to "dam" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

dam (a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea)

 Context examples 

So there was no damming up the tide of life that was rising within him—rising with every mouthful of meat he swallowed, with every breath he drew.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The researchers argue that although they result from a natural process, these emissions may also be responding to environmental change, such as the building of dams across the Amazon basin.

(Amazon trees are major source of methane emission, SciDev.Net)

Dams also change the regime of flow in rivers downstream, and they trap sediments that carry nutrients, starving fish and other species.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

“Some dam day heem keel dat Buck.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He had his papers a' reet, an' glad I was to be rid o' the dam' thing, for I was beginnin' masel' to feel uneasy at it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Flooding can also happen when a river or stream overflows its bank, when a levee is breached, or when a dam breaks.

(Floods, Federal Emergency Management Agency)

This acknowledgment comprises about 4-6 years of university study in total with a professional engineering discipline that deals with the construction and design of public and private sector works such as bridges, roads, dams and buildings.

(Master of Civil Engineering, NCI Thesaurus)

If a supporting ice shelf were to melt away over a longer period of days or weeks, the scientists found, the remaining ice cliff wouldn't suddenly crack and collapse under its own weight, but instead would slowly flow out, like a mass of cold honey that's been released from a dam.

(Antarctic ice cliffs may not contribute to ice-sheet instability as much as predicted, National Science Foundation)

Weedon Scott reading the letter down in Circle City, came upon the following: That dam wolf won't work. Won't eat. Aint got no spunk left. All the dogs is licking him.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

“Dat one dam bully dog! Eh? How moch?”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)