DAMP • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Damp

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adjective

Damp adj. (compar. damper; superl. dampest)

1.

Being in a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist; humid. "O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear."

2.

Dejected; depressed; sunk. (R.) "All these and more came flocking, but with looks Downcast and damp."

noun

Damp n.

1.

Moisture; humidity; fog; fogginess; vapor. "Night... with black air Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom."

2.

Dejection; depression; cloud of the mind. "Even now, while thus I stand blest in thy presence, A secret damp of grief comes o'er my soul." "It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion."

3.

(Mining) A gaseous product, formed in coal mines, old wells, pints, etc.

Choke damp, a damp consisting principally of carbonic acid gas; so called from its extinguishing flame and animal life. See Carbonic acid, under Carbonic.

Damp sheet, a curtain in a mine gallery to direct air currents and prevent accumulation of gas.

Fire damp, a damp consisting chiefly of light carbureted hydrogen; so called from its tendence to explode when mixed with atmospheric air and brought into contact with flame.

verb

Damp v. i. (past & past part. damped; pres. part. damping)

1.

To render damp; to moisten; to make humid, or moderately wet; to dampen; as, to damp cloth.

2.

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. "To damp your tender hopes." "Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug." "How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word!" "The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers."

See images of 'Damp'

Etymology of 'Damp'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Damp" Quotes from Famous Books

... "It does smell damp," said Adele, "but there's central heating. See?" She pointed to a huge radiator. "If that works as it should, it'll ...

— Jonah and Co. • Dornford Yates

... state even than the wretched establishments on the Rice Island, dignified by that name; so miserable a place for the purpose to which it was dedicated I could not have imagined on a property belonging to Christian owners. The floor (which was not boarded, but merely the damp hard earth itself,) was strewn with wretched women, who, but for their moans of pain and uneasy restless motions, might very well have each been taken for a mere heap of filthy rags; the chimney refusing passage to the smoke from the pine wood fire, it puffed out in clouds ...

— Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation - 1838-1839 • Frances Anne Kemble

... successful one, believes all earth privy to his soul—was put down by Mr. Sperrit to quite different causes. He led him into a morning-room. The rest of the house seemed to be full of people, singing to a loud piano idiotic songs about cows, and the hall smelt of damp cloaks. ...

— A Diversity of Creatures • Rudyard Kipling

... he glanced into the passage, that seemed to have several doors on either hand. In a castle so sparsely occupied the very knowledge of this long and empty corridor in the neighbourhood of his sleeping apartment conferred a sense of chill and mystery. He thought he could perceive the odour of damp, decayed wood, crumbled lime, hanging rotten in stagnant airs and covered with the dust of years. "Dieu!" he exclaimed involuntarily, "this is no Cammercy." He longed for some relief from the air of mystery and dread that hung about the place. A laugh would have been ...

— Doom Castle • Neil Munro

... tarpaulin, for Becky's "man" was a teamster. With a few touches of the girl's quick hands, the covers of the bed were smooth, and the woman's eyes rested on the girl's own cloak. With her own handkerchief she brushed the death-damp from the forehead that already seemed growing cold. At her first touch, the woman's eyelids opened and dropped together again. Her lips moved, but no sound ...

— Christmas Eve on Lonesome and Other Stories • John Fox, Jr.

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