Etymology From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.
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A structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow or part of the flow, generally for purposes such as retaining or diverting some of the water or retarding the release of accumulated water to avoid abrupt flooding.
A dam is often an essential source of water to farmers of hilly country.
Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins[…]1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
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Most of the Himalayan rivers have been relatively untouched by dams near their sources. Now the two great Asian powers, India and China, are rushing to harness them as they cut through some of the world's deepest valleys.2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:
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The water reservoir resulting from placing such a structure.
Boats may only be used at places set aside for boating on the dam.
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Dentistry, Medicine, Sciences A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet during dental work, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band.
Etymology From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.
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To block the flow of water.
Home I vvould go, / But that my Dores are hatefull to my eyes. / Fill'd and damm'd up vvith gaping Creditors, / VVatchfull as Fovvlers vvhen their Game vvill ſpring; […]1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:
Do not get too caught up in individual campism. The Most-High sent your spirits back on earth to fix yourselves, come together and wake up our people, so do your dam job and stop letting your fleshly desires control you.2020, Jacie Rowe III, White Lies, Black Truth, The Lost Light, page 196:
dam
noun
Etymology Variant of dame. Doublet of domina and donna.
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Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals.
More dear […] than younglings to their dam.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 52:
The dam runs lowing up and down, / Looking the way her harmless young one went.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
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Hunters assure us, that to chuse the best dog, and which they purpose to keepe from out a litter of other young whelps, there is no better meane than the damme herselfe[…].1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
she / Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, / And worthy of the noblest pedigree / (His sire was from Castile, his dam from Aragon)[…].1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Part 1:
The sky was cloudless—the moon rolled across the surface like a lamb searching for its dam.1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, page 112:
Etymology From Hindi दाम (dām), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀤𑀫𑁆𑀫 (damma, “coin”), from Sanskrit द्रम्म (drammá), from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Doublet of drachm, drachma, and dram. Alternatively said to be possibly coined from the English phrase "I don't give a dam(n)," referring to its small worth.
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India, Historical An obsolete Indian copper coin, equal to a fortieth of a rupee.
[…] A small Indian coin; whence comes the saying "I don't care a dam for you," that is I don't value you a farthing, and not as generally given, "I don't care a damn" or a "curse for you." [Possibly a folk etymology.]1839, William Holloway, A General Dictionary of Provincialisms, Written with a View to Rescue from Oblivion the Fast Fading Relics of By-gone Days, Lewes, East Sussex: Sussex Press: Printed and published by Baxter and Son, →OCLC, page 42:
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Historical A former coin of Nepal, 128 of which were worth one mohar.