Dam /(dăm)/

1. A female parent; -- used of beasts, especially of quadrupeds; sometimes applied in contempt to a human mother.

   Our sire and dam, now confined to horses, are a relic of this age (13th century) . . . .Dame is used of a hen; we now make a great difference between dame and dam.

   The dam runs lowing up and down, Looking the way her harmless young one went.

2. A king or crowned piece in the game of draughts.

1. 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.
2. A firebrick wall, or a stone, which forms the front of the hearth of a blast furnace. (Metal.)

imp. & p. p. Dammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Damming

1. 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.

   I'll have the current in this place dammed up.

   A weight of earth that dams in the water.

2. To shut up; to stop up; to close; to restrain.

   The strait pass was dammed With dead men hurt behind, and cowards.