Damp

Pronunciation

• enPR: dămp, IPA: /dæmp/
• Rhymes: -æmp

Origin

Akin to Low German damp, Dutch damp, and Danish damp ("vapor, steam, fog"), German Dampf, Icelandic dampi, Swedish damm ("dust"), and to German dampf imperative of dimpfen ("to smoke"). Also Old English dampen ("to choke, suffocate").

Full definition of damp

Adjective

1. Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
• O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear - John Dryden
2. The lawn was still damp so we decided not to sit down.The paint is still damp, so please don't touch it.
3. (obsolete) Pertaining to or affected by noxious vapours; dejected, stupified.
• 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 1, ll. 522-3:All these and more came flocking; but with looks
  Down cast and damp.

Derived terms

• dampen
• dampness

Noun

1. Moisture; humidity; dampness.
2. (archaic) Fog; fogginess; vapor.
• MiltonNight ... with black air
  Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom.
3. (archaic) Dejection or depression.
• Joseph AddisonEven now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence,
  A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul.
• J. D. ForbesIt must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion.
4. (archaic or historical, mining) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pits, etc.

Derived terms

• afterdamp
• blackdamp
• chokedamp
• damp sheet
• firedamp
• stinkdamp
• whitedamp

Verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To dampen; to render damp; to moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet; as, to damp cloth.
2. (transitive, archaic) To put out, as fire; to depress or deject; to deaden; to cloud; to check or restrain, as action or vigor; to make dull; to weaken; to discourage.
3. (transitive) To suppress vibrations (mechanical) or oscillations (electrical) by converting energy to heat (or some other form of energy).
• To damp your tender hopes - Mark Akenside
• Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug - Francis Bacon
• How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! - Sir John Lubbock
• The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers. - Thomas Babington Macaulay
• Hollow rollers damp vibration. - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3238/is_200004/ai_n7935204

Anagrams

• M.D. Pa.