dam
part of speech
noun (a dam, dams); verb (dam, dams, dammed, damming)
meaning for a pupil
1) A dam is a strong wall built across a river to hold back the water, making a lake behind it called a reservoir. tree →
2) A dam is also a wall of sticks and mud built by beavers across a stream. tree →
3) To dam a river is to build a dam across it. tree →
4) A dam is also the mother of an animal such as a horse or dog. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it means the mother of an animal, not a wall that holds back water. In Isaiah it means a barrier that holds back water in the river, as the dams of Egypt. Interpretation: An animal's young must stay seven days with its mother before it can be offered. A mother bird must be sent away before taking her young, a law the rabbis read as a lesson in kindness. Isaiah's dams are read as part of his warning that Egypt's rivers and trade will fail. In the primary lessons: In geography and science, dams store water for drinking and farming, stop floods and make electricity with moving water (hydroelectric power). In nature lessons beavers build dams. Phrases: build a dam, the dam burst, a beaver dam, dam up.
examples
- Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep; seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it Me. (Torah EXO.22.30, JPS 1917) tree →
- thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. (Torah DEU.22.7, JPS 1917) tree →
- And her foundations shall be crushed, all they that make dams shall be grieved in soul. (Prophets ISA.19.10, JPS 1917) tree →
- The dam holds back millions of litres of water. tree →
- Beavers build dams from sticks and mud. tree →
- Water rushing through the dam turns turbines to make electricity. tree →
- After heavy rain, the dam was nearly full. tree →
- We dammed the little stream with stones. tree →
- In the story, the dam burst and the village flooded. tree →
- The lake behind the dam is called a reservoir. tree →
- "Oh, yes, my bonnie lassie," said the mill-dam. tree →
note
Countable noun: a dam, dams. Verb: dam, dammed, damming (double m). Homophone trap: «damn» (a swear word) sounds the same but has a silent n; do not mix them up.
In the corpora
- And her foundations shall be crushed, all they that make dams shall be grieved in soul.
- Dams on rivers, roads, new buildings and the loss of resting places along the way all make migration harder today.
- Some dams have been repaired for hundreds of years by family after family of beavers, each one fixing the dam it inherited.
- Beaver dams slow floods, clean water and make ponds full of life, though some farmers worry about flooded fields.
- Nets, electric fishing and dams did the rest, and the giant Chinese paddlefish was lost too.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «dam» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.