damp

(dămp)

adj. damp·er, damp·est

1. Slightly wet: a damp sponge.

2. Humid: damp air.

3. Archaic Dejected; depressed.

a. Moisture in the air; humidity: Come in out of the damp.

b. Moisture that lies or has condensed on something: "I saw the damp lying on the bare hedges and spare grass" (Charles Dickens).

2. Foul or poisonous gas that sometimes pollutes the air in coal mines.

3. Archaic

a. Lowness of spirits; depression: "An angry or sorrowful [countenance] throws a sudden damp upon me" (David Hume).

b. A restraint or check; a discouragement: "The issue of arms was so slow as to throw a great damp upon volunteering" (James Franck Bright).

tr.v. damped, damp·ing, damps

1. To make damp or moist; moisten.

2. To suppress or extinguish (a fire) by reducing or cutting off air.

3. To restrain or check; discourage: news that damped our enthusiasm.

4. Music To slow or stop the vibrations of (the strings of a keyboard instrument) with a damper.

5. Physics To decrease the amplitude of (an oscillating system).

Phrasal Verb:

damp off Botany

To be affected by damping off.

[Middle English, poison gas, perhaps from Middle Dutch, vapor.]

damp′ish adj.

damp′ly adv.

damp′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Dampness

dampness

noun moistness, damp, moisture, humidity, wetness, sogginess, dankness, clamminess, mugginess A chill dampness was rising from the rough grass.
dryness, aridity, aridness

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

رُطوبَه

vlhkost

fugtfugtighed

raki

vochtigheidvochtigheidsgraad

vlaga

fuktighetfuktighetsgrad

nemlilikrutubetlilik

潮湿

dampness

[ˈdæmpnɪs] N → humedad f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

dampness

[ˈdæmpnɪs] n → humidité fdamp-proof [ˈdæmppruːf] adj → imperméabilisé(e)damp-proof course n → barrière f d'étanchéité

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

dampness

n → Feuchtigkeit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

dampness

[ˈdæmpnɪs] n → umidità, umido

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

damp

(dӕmp) adjective

slightly wet. This towel is still damp.

noun

slight wetness, especially in the air. The walls were brown with (the) damp.

ˈdampen verb

1. to make damp.

2. to make or become less fierce or strong (interest etc). The rain dampened everyone's enthusiasm considerably.

ˈdamper noun

1. something which lessens the strength of enthusiasm, interest etc. Her presence cast a damper on the proceedings.

2. a movable plate for controlling the draught eg in a stove.

ˈdampness noun

slight wetness.

damp down

1. to make (a fire) burn more slowly.

2. to reduce, make less strong. He was trying to damp down their enthusiasm.

dampness

n humedad f

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

He was so much interested in that task that he was unable to sleep, and in spite of his cold which had grown worse from the dampness of the evening, he went into the large division of the tent at three o'clock in the morning, loudly blowing his nose.

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When they came to the gulf, Ozma's magic carpet carried them all over in safety; and now they began to pass the trees, in which birds were singing; and the breeze that was wafted to them from the farms of Ev was spicy with flowers and new-mown hay; and the sunshine fell full upon them, to warm them and drive away from their bodies the chill and dampness of the underground kingdom of the Nomes.

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But, notwithstanding this rather perplexing prospect, after some hours of meditation, fatigue got the better of his gloomy thoughts, and Joe fell into a profound slumber, which would have lasted no doubt until sunrise, had not a very unexpected sensation of dampness awakened the sleeper.

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I only knew that at the end of, I suppose, a quarter of an hour, an odorous dampness and roughness, chilling and piercing my trouble, had made me understand that I must have thrown myself, on my face, on the ground and given way to a wildness of grief.

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After miles of outlying streets and little gloomy houses, they reached London itself, red and roaring and murky, with a thick dampness coming up from the river, that betokened fog again to-morrow.

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when the ship was about half disembowelled, you should have stooped over the hatchway, and peered down upon him there; where, stripped to his woollen drawers, the tattooed savage was crawling about amid that dampness and slime, like a green spotted lizard at the bottom of a well.

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He sat up in bed and remained listening intently to try if he could make out what could be the cause of so great an uproar; not only, however, was he unable to discover what it was, but as countless drums and trumpets now helped to swell the din of the bells and shouts, he was more puzzled than ever, and filled with fear and terror; and getting up he put on a pair of slippers because of the dampness of the floor, and without throwing a dressing gown or anything of the kind over him he rushed out of the door of his room, just in time to see approaching along a corridor a band of more than twenty persons with lighted torches and naked swords in their hands, all shouting out, "To arms, to arms, senor governor, to arms!

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Wet, half famished, and chilled to the heart with the dampness of the place, and nearly wild with the pain I endured, I fairly cowered down to the earth under this multiplication of hardships, and abandoned myself to frightful anticipations of evil; and my companion, whose spirit at last was a good deal broken, scarcely uttered a word during the whole night.

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The floating pollen seemed to be his notes made visible, and the dampness of the garden the weeping of the garden's sensibility.

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After the Wizard had wiped the dampness from his sword and taken it apart and put the pieces into their leathern case again, the man with the star ordered some of his people to carry the two halves of the Sorcerer to the public gardens.

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There was a dampness in the air, and I noticed he had on his oilskins.

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A single thing still mechanically occupied her ear; above her head, the dampness was filtering through the mouldy stones of the vault, and a drop of water dropped from them at regular intervals.

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