tamp

«tamp» in Mova's school dictionary: to press or pat it down firmly so it is packed tight… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (tamp, tamps, tamped, tamping); usually «tamp down»

meaning for a pupil

1) To tamp something means to press or pat it down firmly so it is packed tight, such as soil around a plant or coffee in a machine. tree →

2) (formal) To tamp down something like feelings or rumours means to try to calm it or reduce it. tree →

sense in the lessons

In gardening, after planting a seedling you tamp down the soil gently so the plant stands firm. Builders tamp down gravel or concrete. In cafés a barista tamps the coffee. In news writing, «to tamp down fears» means to calm worries. Phrases: «tamp down», «tamp the soil», «tamp it firm».

examples

• Tamp the soil down around the bean plant with your fingers. tree →
• The builder tamped the gravel flat before laying the slabs. tree →
• The barista tamped the coffee into the little metal cup. tree →
• Grandad tamped the tobacco into his old pipe. tree →
• The head teacher tried to tamp down the rumours about the closure. tree →
• After filling the hole, we tamped it down with our boots. tree →

note

Regular verb: tamped, tamping. Usually with «down». Not to be confused with «stamp» (to bring your foot down hard) or «tamper» (to interfere with something secretly), though a tool for tamping is called a «tamper».

In the corpora

• «She's tamping if you rush her,» he says — in South Wales «tamping» means furious.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «tamp» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.