damp

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Slightly wet, in an unpleasant or unwanted way.

   Her clothes were still damp from the rain.

2. 2
   noun

   Moisture or wetness, especially in the air or on a surface.

   There was a smell of damp in the old basement.

3. 3
   verb

   To reduce or weaken a feeling, sound, or activity.

   The bad news damped everyone's enthusiasm for the party.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Damp is Germanic in origin and originally meant a noxious gas. It later referred to visible vapour such as fog in the early 17th century and did not acquire its familiar association with wetness until the 18th century.

From Middle English dampen (“to stifle; suffocate”). Akin to Low German damp, Dutch damp, and German Dampf (“vapor, steam, fog”), Icelandic dampi, Swedish damm (“dust”), and to German dampf imperative of dimpfen (“to smoke”). Also Middle English dampen (“to extinguish, choke, suffocate”). Ultimately all descend from Proto-Germanic *dampaz.

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary