damp meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

damp

adj

CA, US /ˈdeə̯mp/ · /ˈdæmp/

Etymology From Middle English dampen (“to stifle; suffocate”). Akin to Low German damp, Dutch damp, and German Dampf (“vapor, steam, fog”), Icelandic dampi, Swedish damm (“dust”), and to German dampf imperative of dimpfen (“to smoke”). Also Middle English dampen (“to extinguish, choke, suffocate”). Ultimately all descend from Proto-Germanic *dampaz.

In a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.

25 January 2017, Leena Camadoo writing in The Guardian, Dominican banana producers at sharp end of climate change Once the farms have been drained and the dead plants have been cut down and cleared, farmers then have to be alert for signs of black sigatoka, a devastating fungus which flourishes in damp conditions and can destroy banana farms.
She said no more. The trembling Trojans hear, O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear.1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 364, lines 84-85:

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The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.
The paint is still damp, so please don't touch it.

Figuratively Despondent; dispirited, downcast.

27 July 2016, Jane O’Faherty in The Irish Independent, Monarchs and prison officers win big on second race day Though Travis's 'Why does it always Rain on Me' boomed around the stands, there were few damp spirits in Galway on day two of the races.
All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp.1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 522-3:

Permitting the possession of alcoholic beverages, but not their sale.

The Roadhouse was twenty-seve miles down the road from Niniltna, nine feet and three inches outside the Niniltna Native Association's tribal jurisdiction, and therefore not subject to the dry law currently in effect. Or was it damp? Kate thought it might have changed, yet again, at the last election, from dry to damp, or maybe it was from wet to damp.2002, Dana Stabenow, A Fine and Bitter Snow, →ISBN, page 32:

Synonyms: moist, thoan, thone, glum, melancholy, sorrowful
Derived terms: bedamp, damp down, damp-dry, dampen, damp haze, dampish, damply, dampness, damp off, dampsome, damp squib, damp squid, dampth, dampy

damp

noun

Moisture; humidity; dampness.

Ere twice in murk and occidental damp / Moist Hesperus hath quench’d his sleepy lamp,c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
What means this chilling damp that clings around me! / Why do I tremble thus!1764, Elizabeth Griffith, Amana, London: W. Johnston, act V, page 49:

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Unceasing, soaking rain was falling; the very lamps seemed obscured by the damp upon the glass, and their light reached but to a little distance from the posts.1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 10, in Mary Barton:
But what was worse, damp now began to make its way into every house—damp, which is the most insidious of all enemies, for while the sun can be shut out by blinds, and the frost roasted by a hot fire, damp steals in while we sleep; damp is silent, imperceptible, ubiquitous.1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 5, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:
We sometimes kept our Wellingtons on the whole day, leaving trails of mud and damp through the rooms.2005, Kazuo Ishiguro, chapter 10, in Never Let Me Go, London: Faber, published 2010, page 115:

Archaic Fog; fogginess; vapor.

Night […] with black air / Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
Her chilling finger on my head, With coldest touch congealed my soul— Cold as the finger of the dead, Or damps which round a tombstone roll—1810, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Elizabeth Shelley, “Warrior”, in Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire, London: John Lane, published 1898, page 57:

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Summer was ending: in the daytime singing insects hung in every sunbeam; vegetation was heavy nightly with globes of dew; and after showers creeping damps and twilight chills came up from the hollows.1886 May – 1887 April, Thomas Hardy, chapter XL, in The Woodlanders […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

Archaic Dejection or depression; something that spoils a positive emotion (such as enjoyment, satisfaction, expectation or courage) or a desired activity.

Ev’n now, while thus I stand blest in thy Presence, / A secret Damp of Grief comes o’er my Thoughts,1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 35:
1728, George Carleton (attributed to Daniel Defoe), The Memoirs of an English Officer, London: E. Symon, p. 72, But though the War was proclaim’d, and Preparations accordingly made for it, the Expectations from all receiv’d a sudden Damp, by the as sudden Death of King William.

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It is in this ſpirit that ſome have looked upon thoſe accidents, that caſt an occaſional damp upon trade.1769, [Edmund Burke], Observations on a Late State of the Nation, London: […] J[ames] Dodsley, […], →OCLC, page 33:
No sentiment of shame gave a damp to her triumph.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
[…] Mrs. Gummidge […], I am sorry to relate, cast a damp upon the festive character of our departure, by immediately bursting into tears […]1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “I Become Neglected, and am Provided for”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
1866, James David Forbes, letter to A. Wills dated 2 January, 1866, in Life and Letters of James David Forbes, London: Macmaillan, 1873, p. 429, […] I was concerned to hear from your brother that Mrs. Wills’ health had prevented her accompanying you to Sixt as usual. It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion […]

Business, Mining Archaic, Historical A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.

There are sulphurous Vapours which infect the Vegetables, and render the Grass unwholsom to the Cattle that feed upon it: Miners are often hurt by these Steams. Observations made in some of the Mines in Derbyshire, describe four sorts of those Damps.1733, John Arbuthnot, chapter 1, in An Essay Concerning the Effects of Air on Human Bodies, London: Jacob Tonson, page 19:

Derived terms: afterdamp, blackdamp, chokedamp, choke damp, damp course, dampless, dampproof, damp proofing, damp sheet, death-damp, firedamp, flashdamp, rising damp, stinkdamp, whitedamp

damp

verb

To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).

Hydraulic shock absorbers are used to damp out vertical and lateral oscillations.1960 February, “The first of London's new Piccadilly Line trains is delivered”, in Trains Illustrated, page 93:

Archaic To dampen; to make moderately wet.

to damp cloth
It just damps a bit, but it een't not to sey reen.1890, Lord Henry Haughton Reynolds Moreton, A Glossary of Dialect & Archaic Words Used in the County of Gloucester, page 136:

Archaic To put out, as fire; to weaken, restrain, or make dull.

How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word!1887, Sir John Lubbock, The Pleasures of Life:
My Lords, that I am yet to be told that it behoves a Minister of this free country to set bounds to the philanthropy, to cramp the charity, to fetter the public spirit, to contract the enterprise, to damp the independent self-reliance of its people.1855 December – 1857 June, Charles Dickens, “Book 1 Chapter 34”, in Little Dorrit, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

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The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
I do not mean to wake the gloomy form Of superstition dress'd in wisdom's garb, To damp your tender hopes1744, Mark Akenside, The Pleasures of the Imagination:
Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug1625, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the chapter)”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

Derived terms: dampable, damp down, dampingly, damp off, nondamping, overdamp, underdamp

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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Conjugation of “damp”, all tenses