dam /ˈdæm/
 水壩,水閘(vt.)在…上築壩,堵住
 Dam, n.
 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.
 Dam n.
 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 and down,
 Looking the way her harmless young one went.   --Shak.
 2. A king or crowned piece in the game of draughts.
 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.
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 dam
      n 1: a barrier constructed to contain the flow of water or to
           keep out the sea [syn: dike, dyke, levee]
      2: a metric unit of length equal to ten meters [syn: decameter,
          dekameter, decametre, dekametre, dkm]
      3: female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock
      v : obstruct with, or as if with, a dam; "dam the gorges of the
          Yangtse River" [syn: dam up]
      [also: damming, dammed]