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# dam

noun (a dam, dams); verb (dam, dams, dammed, damming)

«dam» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#m1)
2. A dam is also a wall of sticks and mud built by beavers across a stream. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#m2)
3. To dam a river is to build a dam across it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#m3)
4. A dam is also the mother of an animal such as a horse or dog. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#m4)

### In the 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

- The dam holds back millions of litres of water. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x1)
- Beavers build dams from sticks and mud. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x2)
- Water rushing through the dam turns turbines to make electricity. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x3)
- After heavy rain, the dam was nearly full. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x4)
- We dammed the little stream with stones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x5)
- In the story, the dam burst and the village flooded. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x6)
- The lake behind the dam is called a reservoir. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x7)
- "Oh, yes, my bonnie lassie," said the mill-dam. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/#x8)

### 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 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.

### 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x1)
- 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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x2)
- And her foundations shall be crushed, all they that make dams shall be grieved in soul. (Prophets ISA.19.10, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x3)

### 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.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «dam» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/D/dam/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«dam» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/dam.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «dam» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«dam» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/dam.html) on Mova free.