Library / English Dictionary

DAM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: dammed    , damming   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

female (an animal that produces gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes (spermatozoa))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea

Synonyms:

dam; dike; dyke

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

barrier (a structure or object that impedes free movement)

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

milldam (dam to make a millpond to provide power for a water mill)

weir (a low dam built across a stream to raise its level or divert its flow)

Instance hyponyms:

Aswan High Dam; High Dam (one of the world's largest dams on the Nile River in southern Egypt)

Glen Canyon Dam (a large dam built in 1964 on the Colorado River in Arizona)

Hoover Dam (a large dam built in 1933 on the Colorado River in Nevada)

Derivation:

dam (obstruct with, or as if with, a dam)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A metric unit of length equal to ten meters

Synonyms:

dam; decameter; decametre; dekameter; dekametre; dkm

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

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

metric linear unit (a linear unit of distance in metric terms)

Meronyms (parts of "dam"):

m; meter; metre (the basic unit of length adopted under the Systeme International d'Unites (approximately 1.094 yards))

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

hectometer; hectometre; hm (a metric unit of length equal to 100 meters)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Obstruct with, or as if with, a dam

Example:

dam the gorges of the Yangtse River

Synonyms:

dam; dam up

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "dam" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

dam (a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The construction of dams along the tributaries of the Amazon poses a serious threat to fish abundance and diversity.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

A separate study has reported that 140 hydroelectric dams are in operation or under construction along the Amazon basin, and another 288 are planned for the coming years.

(Amazon trees are major source of methane emission, SciDev.Net)

Before many minutes had passed a pack of them poured, like a pent-up dam when liberated, through the wide entrance into the courtyard.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Fish, in open pools, were not too quick for him; nor were beaver, mending their dams, too wary.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

While history has played an important role in the distribution and diversity of fish species in the Amazon basin, climate change, deforestation and building of power dams could alter such dynamics even more.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

“All de tam I watch dat Buck I know for sure. Lissen: some dam fine day heem get mad lak hell an’ den heem chew dat Spitz all up an’ spit heem out on de snow. Sure. I know.”

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

Authors also found indications that the rise in deforestation and the construction of dams could threaten the natural dynamics of fish dispersal.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

Dams block migration routes along the river gradient, which impacts migratory fish - and some, like the catfish, are the most valuable in the fishery sector in the Amazon because they tend to be larger.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)