Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Damp

Damp (dămp), n. [Akin to LG., D., & Dan. damp vapor, steam, fog, G. dampf, Icel. dampi, Sw. damb dust, and to MNG. dimpfen to smoke, imp. dampf.] 1. Moisture; humidity; fog; fogginess; vapor.

Night . . . with black air Accompanied, with damps and dreadful gloom. Milton.

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. Addison.

It must have thrown a damp over your autumn excursion. J. D. Forbes.

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.

Damp (dămp), a. [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. Dryden.

2. Dejected; depressed; sunk. [R.]

All these and more came flocking, but with looks Downcast and damp. Milton.

Damp, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Damped; p. pr. & vb. n. Damping.] [OE. dampen to choke, suffocate. See Damp, n.] 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." Akenside.

Usury dulls and damps all industries, improvements, and new inventions, wherein money would be stirring if it were not for this slug. Bacon.

How many a day has been damped and darkened by an angry word! Sir J. Lubbock.

The failure of his enterprise damped the spirit of the soldiers. Macaulay.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.