Definition

1. Noun:

   • A barrier built across a river or stream to hold back water: A structure, often made of earth, concrete, or stone, designed to control water flow, create a reservoir, or generate hydroelectric power.
   • The female parent of an animal, especially livestock: Used primarily in animal husbandry to refer to the mother of a horse, sheep, or other domestic animal.
   • (Obsolete) A mother or female parent: An archaic or literary term for a human mother.

2. Verb:

   • To build a dam across a watercourse: To obstruct or confine the flow of water by constructing a barrier.
   • To hold back or restrain something: Often used figuratively to mean suppressing or controlling emotions, feelings, or forces.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Barrier):
  • The Hoover Dam is a major source of hydroelectric power.
  • The beavers built a dam across the stream.
• Noun (Animal parent):
  • The foal stayed close to its dam.
• Verb:
  • The government plans to dam the river to create a new reservoir.
  • She tried to dam her tears, but they flowed anyway.

Advanced Usage

• "To dam up": To block completely, often used for emotions or water.
  • He had dammed up his grief for years.
• "The devil and his dam": An archaic idiom expressing strong disapproval, roughly meaning "the devil and his mother."
  • He blamed the whole mess on the devil and his dam.

Variants and Related Words

• Damning (adj): Strongly critical or conclusive (as in ). Note: This is a distinct word derived from a different root (to condemn), not directly from the barrier "dam."
• Damsel (n): A young unmarried woman (archaic). Note: This is etymologically unrelated to the barrier "dam."

Synonyms

• Noun (Barrier): Barrage, embankment, levee, weir.
• Noun (Mother): Sire (for the male parent), mare (specifically for a horse).
• Verb: Block, obstruct, stem, hold back, restrain.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Dam up: To block or hold back, creating a buildup.
  • The fallen logs dammed up the creek, forming a small pond.
  • You shouldn't dam up your anger; it's unhealthy.

Related Idioms

• "Like water behind a dam": Describing something (like pressure or emotion) that is building up and will eventually be released with great force.
  • His frustration was building like water behind a dam.

Noun

1. female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock
2. a metric unit of length equal to ten meters
3. a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to keep out the sea

Verb

1. obstruct with, or as if with, a dam
   • dam the gorges of the Yangtse River