Dam (?), n. [OE. dame mistress, lady; also, mother, dam. See Dame.]
1.
A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother.
Our sire and dam, now confined to horses, are a relic of this age (13th century) . . . .Dame is used of a hen; we now make a great difference between dame and dam.
T. L. K. Oliphant.
The dam runs lowing up end down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went.
Shak.
2.
A kind or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
© Webster 1913.
Dam, n. [Akin to OLG., D., & Dan. dam, G. & Sw. damm, Icel. dammr, and AS. fordemman to stop up, Goth. Fa�xa3;rdammjan.]
1.
A barrier to prevent the flow of a liquid; esp., a bank of earth, or wall of any kind, as of masonry or wood, built across a water course, to confine and keep back flowing water.
2. Metal.
A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.
Dam plate Blast Furnace, an iron plate in front of the dam, to strengthen it.
© Webster 1913.
Dam, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Dammed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Damming.]
1.
To obstruct or restrain the flow of, by a dam; to confine by constructing a dam, as a stream of water; -- generally used with in or up.
I'll have the current in this place dammed up.
Shak.
A weight of earth that dams in the water.
Mortimer.
2.
To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain.
The strait pass was dammed
With dead men hurt behind, and cowards.
Shak.
To dam out, to keep out by means of a dam.
© Webster 1913.