Dam

·noun A kind or crowned piece in the game of draughts.

II. Dam ·noun A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace.

III. Dam ·vt To shut up; to stop up; to Close; to Restrain.

IV. Dam ·noun A female parent;

— used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother.

V. Dam ·vt 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.

VI. Dam ·noun 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.