dam

dam

1. (metrology) Symbol for decameter (decametre), an SI unit of length equal to 10¹ meters (metres).
2. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Damakawa.

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Damakawa terms

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /dæm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: damn
• Rhymes: -æm

From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

dam (plural dams)

1. 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.

   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 4, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad‎^[1]:

     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 […]

   • 2013 August 16, John Vidal, “Dams endanger ecology of Himalayas”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 10, page 8:

     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.

2. The water reservoir resulting from placing such a structure.

   Boats may only be used at places set aside for boating on the dam.

3. (dentistry) A device to prevent a tooth from getting wet during dental work, consisting of a rubber sheet held with a band.
4. (South Africa, Australia) A reservoir.
5. A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.

dam (third-person singular simple present dams, present participle damming, simple past and past participle dammed)

1. (transitive) To block the flow of water.
   • 1682, Thomas Otway, Venice Preserv’d, or, A Plot Discover’d. A Tragedy. […], London: […] Jos[eph] Hindmarsh […], →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 4:

     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; […]

Variant of dame. Doublet of domina and donna.

dam (plural dams)

2. Female parent, mother, generally regarding breeding of animals.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 52:

     More dear […] than younglings to their dam.

   • 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]:

     The dam runs lowing up and down, / Looking the way her harmless young one went.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 12, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     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 […].

   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, Part 1:

     she / Resolved that Juan should be quite a paragon, / And worthy of the noblest pedigree / (His sire was from Castile, his dam from Aragon) […].

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, page 112:

     The sky was cloudless—the moon rolled across the surface like a lamb searching for its dam.

3. A kind of crowned piece in the game of draughts.

• (male parent): sire

Said to be possibly coined from the English phrase "I don't give a dam(n)," referring to its small worth.^[1]

dam (plural dams) (historical)

1. (India) An obsolete Indian copper coin, equal to a fortieth of a rupee.
   • 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:

     […] 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.]

2. A former coin of Nepal, 128 of which were worth one mohar.

Pronunciation spelling of damn.

• dam'

dam

1. (slang or pronunciation spelling) Damn.

dam (not comparable)

1. (slang or pronunciation spelling) Damn.
   • 2020, Jacie Rowe III, White Lies, Black Truth, The Lost Light, page 196:

     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.

• dam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• dam (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Dam in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• DMA, Mad, MAD, Adm, MDA, Adm., adm., mad, AMD, ADM

From Dutch dam, from Middle Dutch dam, from Old Dutch dam, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

• Audio:

  (file)

dam (plural damme)

1. pond, basin
2. dam

• opgaardam
• studam

dam m

1. Gheg form of dëm

From Proto-Vietic *ɗam, from Proto-Mon-Khmer *p(ɗ)am; cognate with Vietnamese năm.

• IPA^(key): [dam]

dam

1. five

• Michel Ferlus, 2014, Arem, a Vietic Language, Mon-Khmer Studies 43.1-15, page 5

From Old Anatolian Turkish طام (d̥am, dam), from Proto-Turkic *tām.

• IPA^(key): /dɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

dam (definite accusative damı, plural damlar)

1. roof
2. hovel, shack
3. dugout
4. cowshed, sheep cote (a structure where animals are held)

   donuz damı ― pigsty

Borrowed from Persian دام (“trap”).

• IPA^(key): /dɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

dam (definite accusative damı, plural damlar)

1. (figurative) lockup, jail, quod

   dama basdırmaq ― to lock up, to put in jail

2. (archaic) grid, net
3. (archaic) trap, snare

   Synonyms: tələ, cələ, duzaq

   dam qurmaq ― to set a trap

From English dam, from Middle English dam, damme, from Old English *dam, *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

dam

1. dam (a structure placed across a flowing body of water to stop the flow)
2. a reservoir

dam (accusative [please provide], plural [please provide])

1. stable
2. roof
3. taste

• (stable): aran
• (taste): lezet, nezet, tat, dad

From Old Norse dammr (“dam”).

dam c (singular definite dammen, plural indefinite damme)

1. pond
2. corf, livewell (for storage of live fish under water)

• dambrug n

Borrowed from French jeu de dames (“draughts”).

dam c or n

1. draughts, checkers

Borrowed from French dame (“lady”).

dam c (singular definite dammen, plural indefinite dammer)

1. king (superior piece in draughts)

• IPA^(key): /dɑm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dam
• Homophone: Dam
• Rhymes: -ɑm

From Middle Dutch dam, from Old Dutch dam, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

dam m (plural dammen, diminutive dammetje n)

1. dam

• Afrikaans: dam
• → Caribbean Hindustani: dám
• → Indonesian: dam (“dam”)
• → Papiamentu: dam
• → Saramaccan: dan
• → Sranan Tongo: dan, dam
  • → Caribbean Javanese: dham

Borrowed from Middle French dame, from Spanish dama.

dam f (plural dammen)

1. (checkers) king (double draught/checker)

• → Indonesian: dam (“draught/checker(s)”)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

dam

1. inflection of dammen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Inherited^[1] from Latin damnum.

• IPA^(key): (predominant) /dam/, (dated) /dɑ̃/, (archaic) /dan/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Homophones: dams (general), dame, dames (form 1), dans, dent, dents (form 2)

dam m (plural dams)

1. (obsolete except in phrases) damage
2. (religion) damnation

• au grand dam de

• damner
• dommage

• “dam”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• AMD

From Latin damnum.

dam m (plural dams)

1. damage

• daneç

• danâ

dam

1. (reintegrationist norm) third-person plural present indicative of dar

Borrowed from Bengali দাম (dam).

dam

1. price

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈdam/ [ˈdam]
• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: dam

From Dutch dam (“king (draught/checkers)”), from Middle French dame, from Old French dame, from Latin domina.

dam (plural dam-dam)

1. (games) draught (American), checkers (British)
2. checker (a pattern of alternating colours as on a chessboard)

From Dutch dam (“dam”), from Middle Dutch dam, from Old Dutch dam, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.

dam (plural dam-dam)

1. (uncommon) synonym of bendungan

From Arabic دَم (dam, “blood”), from Proto-Semitic *dam-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *dam-.

dam (plural dam-dam)

1. (Islam) fine (a fee levied as punishment for breaking the law)

• “dam” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

dam (emphatic damsa)

1. alternative form of dom (“for/to me”)

dam

1. honey

• IPA^(key): [dam]

  • Audio (Malaysia):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -am
• Hyphenation: dam

Borrowed from Dutch dam (“king (draught/checkers)”), from Middle French dame, from Old French dame, from Latin domina.

dam (Jawi spelling دم)

1. Looking like a checkers board (of a surface).

dam (Jawi spelling دم)

1. (board games) Draughts, checkers.

   Synonym: damdam

Borrowed from Arabic دَم (dam, “blood”), from Proto-Semitic *dam-, from Proto-Afroasiatic *dam-.

dam (Jawi spelling دم, plural dam-dam)

1. (Islam) A punishment given to someone for breaking certain rules when performing the hajj.

Onomatopoeic.

dam (Jawi spelling دم, plural dam-dam)

1. (onomatopoeia) The sound of a drum being beaten.

Onomatopoeic, from the sound of taking a whiff of the marijuana.

dam (Jawi spelling دم, plural dam-dam)

1. (Perlis) Marijuana, weed.

   Synonym: ganja

• “dam” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

• IPA^(key): /daːm/

From Arabic دَامَ (dāma).

dam (imperfect jdum, verbal noun dewm or dewmien or dawmien)

1. to last; to take (time, especially long time)

   Alternative form: diem

   Synonym: (imperfect only) jtul

From Arabic إِدَام (ʔidām).

dam m

1. tallow

From Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm.

• damme, dame

• IPA^(key): /dam/

dam

1. dam (structure to block water)
2. body of water

• English: dam
• Scots: dam

• “dam, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

dam

1. alternative form of dame

dam

1. (when preceding labials) alternative form of dan

From Old Irish dam.

• IPA^(key): /daβ̃/

dam m (genitive daim)

1. ox
   • c. 1000, anonymous author, edited by Rudolf Thurneysen, Scéla Mucca Meic Dathó, Dublin: Stationery Office, published 1935, § 1, page 2, line 12:

     Dam ocus tinne in cach coiri.

     [There was] an ox and a side of bacon in each cauldron.

• Irish: damh
• Manx: dow
• Scottish Gaelic: damh

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 dam”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

From Proto-Oceanic *saman (“outrigger”), from Proto-Austronesian *saʀman (“outrigger”)

• IPA^(key): /ˈdam/

dam

1. (nautical) outrigger
2. (by metaphorical extension) wife

From Danish dam, from Old Norse dammr m, damm n. The meaning dam (structure) probably comes from Middle Low German [Term?].

dam m (definite singular dammen, indefinite plural dammer, definite plural dammene)

1. a pond
2. a dam (structure)

• demning (structure)

From French jeu de dames.

dam m (definite singular dammen, indefinite plural dammer, definite plural dammene)

1. the game of checkers (US) or draughts (UK)

• “dam” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Middle Norwegian dammr m, from Old Norse damm n. The meaning dam (structure) probably comes from Middle Low German [Term?].

dam m (definite singular dammen, indefinite plural dammar, definite plural dammane)

1. a pond
2. a dam (structure)

• demning (structure)

From French jeu de dames.

dam m (definite singular dammen, indefinite plural dammar, definite plural dammane)

1. the game of checkers (US) or draughts (UK)

• “dam” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• ab (Gard)
• amb (Languedoc)
• ambé (Provençal)
• dab (Gascony)
• damb (Gascony)
• emb (Limousin)
• embé (Provençal)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

dam

1. (Gascony) (accompaniment) with
   • 2012, Joan-Pau Ferré, Eth Arrestoth, 2014, Éditions des Régionalismes, Cressé, page 12.

     Cada an, que pujava peth Mont Valièr amont, dam eras vacas, nà amontanhar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• IPA^(key): [daβ̃]

From Proto-Celtic *damos, from Proto-Indo-European *dm̥h₂-ó- (“bull”) (compare Albanian dem (“bullock”), Persian دام (dâm, “livestock”), Ancient Greek δάμαλος (dámalos, “calf”)), from *demh₂- (“to tame”) (compare Old Irish daimid (“to allow, give in”), Latin domō, English tame).

dam m (genitive daim)

1. ox
2. stag
3. (by extension) hero, champion

• c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10^d6

  .i. do·fuáircc .i. ar is bés leosom in daim do thúarcuin ind arbe

  which tramples, i.e. for it is custom among them to have the oxen trample on the corn

• damán m (“calf”)

• Middle Irish: dam
  • Irish: damh
  • Manx: dow
  • Scottish Gaelic: damh

dam f

1. hind, cow (old feminine form of previous)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

dam

1. second-person singular imperative of daimid

·dam

1. inflection of daimid:
   1. third-person singular present indicative conjunct
   2. first-person singular present subjunctive conjunct

dam

1. alternative form of dom (“to/for me”)

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 dam”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 dam”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

• IPA^(key): /ˈdam/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -am
• Syllabification: dam

dam

1. first-person singular future of dać

dam

1. genitive plural of dama

• 𐴊𐴝𐴔𐴢 (dam) — Hanifi Rohingya script

From Magadhi Prakrit 𑀤𑀫𑁆𑀫 (damma), from Sanskrit দ্ৰম্ম (drámma), borrowed from Ancient Greek δραχμή (drakhmḗ). Cognate with Bengali দাম (dam).

dam (Hanifi spelling 𐴊𐴝𐴔𐴢)

1. price

   Synonyms: dor, kimot

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish دام (dam), from Old Turkic [script needed] (tam), from Proto-Turkic *tām.

dam n (plural damuri)

1. cowshed

dam

1. owl

• López Antonio, Joaquín, Jones, Ted, Jones, Kris (2012) Vocabulario breve del Zapoteco de San Juan Guelavía‎^[2] (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Tlalpan, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., pages 14, 23, 40

dam

1. romanization of 𒁮 (dam)

From French dame.

• Audio:

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /dɑːm/

dam c

1. a lady, a woman
2. (card games, chess, checkers) a queen

   ruter dam ― queen of diamonds

• (in chess): drottning

Chess pieces in Swedish · schackpjäser (schack + pjäser) (layout · text)
kung	dam, drottning	torn	löpare	springare, häst	bonde

Playing cards in Swedish · kort (layout · text)
ess, äss	tvåa, två	trea, tre	fyra	femma, fem	sexa, sex	sjua, sju
åtta	nia, nio	tia, tio	knekt	dam	kung	joker

• dam in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• dam in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• dam in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

From Ottoman Turkish طام (dam), from Old Turkic [script needed] (tam), from Proto-Turkic *tām. Cognate with Uyghur تام (tam, “wall”).

Compare Korean 담 (dam, “wall”). (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

• IPA^(key): /dɑm/
• Rhymes: -dɑm

• Audio:

  (file)

dam (definite accusative damı, plural damlar)

1. roof
2. cowshed, sheep cote (a structure where animals are held)
   • 2005, Teoman Ergül, İşgal: "Padişah Efendimizin konukları" (İnkılâp Kitabevi Yayınları)‎^[3], İnkılâp, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281:

     ... damdaki hayvanlar huysuzlaştılar . Bir ara dayıbaşının öksürüğünü yanlarında duydular , alelacele otların arkasında saklandılar . Hüsmen onları görmedi . Hayvanların yerinde olduğunu görünce , kafasını iki yana sallayarak çekip gitti ...

     ... the animals in the cote became grumpy. At one point, they heard the uncle's cough next to them, and they hurriedly hid behind the grass. Husmen did not see them. When he saw that the animals were in place, he shook his head and walked away...

3. (figurative, informal) lockup, jail
   • 2005 June 1, Prof. Dr. Gürsel Aytaç, Edebiyat yazıları 1 (Ed. dizisi)‎^[4], Gündoğan Yayınları, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 61:

     ... dama tıktılar, mapus damına tıktılaaar!.. Yetiş!..» diye avaz avaz bağırmış, sonra da yaşlı kadının güven veren kollarına düşmüş bayılmışçasına kendinden geçmiş, dalgın, mutlu, tam attmı ahırdan çıkarmıştı ki, kapı çalındı. Kapı ...

     They put him in the can, they put him in the slammer!.. Come on!.. " he shouted at the top of his voice, and then he fell into the reassuring arms of the old woman, ecstatic, pensive, happy, as if he had fainted. He had just taken his horse out of the stable when there was a knock on the door.

Borrowed from Classical Persian دَم (dam).

dam (plural damlar)

1. moment, second

See đam. ‹d› here is the result of lenition (Proto-Vietic *k-t- > Middle Vietnamese ‹d› /ð/ > Modern Vietnamese ‹d›).

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [zaːm˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [jaːm˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [jaːm˧˧]

(classifier con) dam

1. alternative form of đam (“freshwater crab”)

   Dù ai béo bạo như tru,
   Về đất Kẻ Ngù cũng tóm như dam
   Ai mà gầy tóm như dam
   Về đất nhà Chàng, cũng béo như tru

   Whosoever as fat and ferocious as a buffalo,
   when coming to Kẻ Ngù, they'll be as lean as a crab.
   Whosoever as lean as a crab,
   when coming home to Chàng, they'll be as fat as a buffalo

dam

1. owl

• Long C., Rebecca, Cruz M., Sofronio (2000) Diccionario zapoteco de San Bartolomé Zoogocho, Oaxaca (Serie de vocabularios y diccionarios indígenas “Mariano Silva y Aceves”; 38)‎^[5] (in Spanish), second electronic edition, Coyoacán, D.F.: Instituto Lingüístico de Verano, A.C., page 215