English▸ noun a person or thing that has a depressing, subduing, or inhibiting effect:
another damper on reactor development was the problem of safeguards.
▪ Music a pad that silences a piano string except when removed by means of a pedal or by the note being struck.
▪ a device for reducing mechanical vibration, in particular a shock absorber on a motor vehicle.
▪ a conductor used to reduce hunting in an electric motor or generator.
▪ a movable metal plate in a flue or chimney, used to regulate the draft and so control the rate of combustion.