dam
from
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)
dam
n 1: a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to
keep out the sea [syn: {dam}, {dike}, {dyke}]
2: a metric unit of length equal to ten meters [syn:
{decameter}, {dekameter}, {decametre}, {dekametre}, {dam},
{dkm}]
3: female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock
v 1: obstruct with, or as if with, a dam; "dam the gorges of the
Yangtse River" [syn: {dam}, {dam up}]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dam \Dam\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Dammed} (d[a^]md); p. pr. & vb.
n. {Damming}.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
I'll have the current in this place dammed up.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
A weight of earth that dams in the water.
--Mortimer.
[1913 Webster]
2. To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain.
[1913 Webster]
The strait pass was dammed
With dead men hurt behind, and cowards. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
{To dam out}, to keep out by means of a dam.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dam \Dam\ (d[a^]m), n. [OE. 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.
[1913 Webster]
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. --T. L. K.
Oliphant.
[1913 Webster]
The dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. A king or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
[1913 Webster]
from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Dam \Dam\, n. [Akin to OLG., D., & Dan. dam, G. & Sw. damm,
Icel. dammr, and AS. fordemman to stop up, Goth.
Fa['u]rdammjan.]
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.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Metal.) A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the
front of the hearth of a blast furnace.
[1913 Webster]
{Dam plate} (Blast Furnace), an iron plate in front of the
dam, to strengthen it.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
DAM. A construction of wood, stone, or other materials, made across a stream
of water for the purpose of confining it; a mole.
2. The owner of a stream not navigable, may erect a dam across it, and
employ the water in any reasonable manner, either for his use or pleasure,
so as not to destroy or render useless, materially diminish, or affect the
application of the water by the proprietors below on the stream. He must not
shut the gates of his dams and detain the water unreasonably, nor let it off
in unusual quantities to the annoyance of his neighbors. 4 Dall. 211; 3
Caines, 207; 13 Mass. 420; 3 Pick, 268; 2 N. H. Rep. 532; 17 John. 306; 3
John. Ch. Rep. 282; 3 Rawle, 256; 2 Conn. Rep. 584; 5 Pick. 199; 20 John.
90; 1 Pick. 180; 4 Id. 460; 2 Binn. 475; 14 Serg. & Rawle, 71; Id. 9; 13
John. 212; 1 McCord, 580; 3 N. H. Rep. 321; 1 Halst. R. 1; 3 Kents Com. 354.
3. When one side of the stream is owned by one person and the other by
another, neither, without the consent of the other, can build a dam which
extends beyond the filum aqua, thread of the river, without committing a
trespass. Cro. Eliz. 269; 12 Mass. 211; Ang. on W. C. 14, 104, 141; vide
Lois des Bat. P. 1, c. 3, s. 1, a. 3; Poth. Traite du Contrat de Societe,
second app. 236; Hill. Ab. Index, h.t.; 7 Cowen, R. 266; 2 Watts, R. 327; 3
Rawle, R. 90; 17 Mass. R. 289; 5 Pick. R. 175; 4 Mass. R. 401. Vide
Inundation.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
193 Moby Thesaurus words for "dam":
arch dam, arrest, artificial lake, backstop, bamboo curtain, bank,
bar, barrage, barrier, bayou lake, bear-trap dam, beaver dam, bind,
block, block up, blockade, boom, bottle up, brake, breakwater,
breastwork, brick wall, bring to, bring up short, buffer, bulkhead,
bulwark, bung, caulk, check, checkmate, chink, choke, choke off,
choke up, cistern, clog, clog up, cofferdam, congest, constipate,
cork, countercheck, cover, curb, cut short, dam up, damp, dampen,
dead water, deadlock, defense, delay, detain, dike, ditch,
draw rein, earthwork, embankment, etang, farm pond, fence, fill,
fill up, fishpond, foster mother, foul, freeze, freshwater lake,
gate, genetrix, glacial lake, gravity dam, groin, halt, hinder,
hold back, hold in check, hold up, hydraulic-fill dam, impede,
inhibit, inland sea, intercept, interfere, intermeddle, interrupt,
intervene, iron curtain, jam, jetty, keep back, keep in check,
lagoon, laguna, lake, lakelet, landlocked water, leaping weir,
levee, linn, loch, logjam, lough, ma, mam, mama, mammy, mater,
materfamilias, maternal ancestor, matriarch, meddle, mere, milldam,
millpond, millpool, moat, mole, mom, mommy, mother, mound, mummy,
nyanza, obstipate, obstruct, oppose, oxbow lake, pack, parapet,
plash, plug, plug up, pond, pondlet, pool, portcullis, puddle,
pull up, put paid to, rampart, repress, reservoir, resist,
restrain, retard, roadblock, rock-fill dam, salina, salt pond,
scotch, seawall, set back, shutter dam, slacken, snub, spile,
stagnant water, stalemate, stall, stanch, standing water, stay,
stem, stem the tide, stench, stepmother, still water, stone wall,
stop, stop cold, stop dead, stop short, stop up, stopper, stopple,
stuff, stuff up, sump, suppress, tank, tarn, the old woman,
tidal pond, volcanic lake, wall, water hole, water pocket, weir,
well, wicket dam, work
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