DAMPER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does damper mean? 

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

1. a movable iron plate that regulates the draft in a stove or chimney or furnace

2. a device that decreases the amplitude of electronic, mechanical, acoustical, or aerodynamic oscillations

3. a depressing restraint

  Familiarity information: DAMPER used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DAMPER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A movable iron plate that regulates the draft in a stove or chimney or furnace

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

plate (a sheet of metal or wood or glass or plastic)

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

chimney (a vertical flue that provides a path through which smoke from a fire is carried away through the wall or roof of a building)

Derivation:

damp (lessen in force or effect)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A device that decreases the amplitude of electronic, mechanical, acoustical, or aerodynamic oscillations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

damper; muffler

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

device (an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose)

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

damper block; piano damper (damper consisting of a small felted block that drops onto a piano string to stop its vibration)

dash-pot (a mechanical damper; the vibrating part is attached to a piston that moves in a chamber filled with liquid)

cushion; shock; shock absorber (a mechanical damper; absorbs energy of sudden impulses)

Derivation:

damp (make vague or obscure or make (an image) less visible)

damp (deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A depressing restraint

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

rain put a damper on our picnic plans

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

restraint (the act of controlling by restraining someone or something)

Derivation:

damp (restrain or discourage)

 Context examples 

Her appearance always acted as a damper to the curiosity raised by her oral oddities: hard-featured and staid, she had no point to which interest could attach.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

In the damper hollows the Mauritia palms threw out their graceful drooping fronds.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The constant low level of C3b activation and potential activation of the alternative pathway is kept in check by a natural damper, factor H and factor I. Factors H and I in plasma inactivate C3b enzyme in solution.

(Alternative Complement Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)