English▸ noun
1 [mass noun] moisture diffused through the air or a solid substance or condensed on a surface, typically with detrimental or unpleasant effects:
the house reeked of mould and damp.
▪ (damps) archaic damp air or atmosphere:
the damps of the valley.
▸ verb [with object]
2 (damp something down) make a fire burn less strongly by reducing the flow of air to it:
he damped down the fire for the night.
▪ control or restrain a feeling or a situation:
she tried to damp down her feelings of despair.
3 reduce or stop the vibration of (the strings of a piano or other musical instrument) so as to reduce the volume of sound:
the muted notes should be produced by damping the strings at the seventh position
(damped as adjective) an ensemble of drums including a foot-damped instrument.
▪ Physics progressively reduce the amplitude of (an oscillation or vibration):
concrete structures damp out any vibrations
(damped as adjective) a damped suspension that isolates the chassis from external vibration.
– ORIGIN Middle English (in the noun sense ‘noxious inhalation’): of West Germanic origin; related to a Middle Low German word meaning ‘vapour, steam, smoke’.