Definition of "afterdamp" []

• An asphyxiating mixture of gases, primarily nitrogen and carbon dioxide, left in a mine after a fire or an explosion. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Filled with deadly afterdamp 'cause owners didn't care,"
• "You know, it is a product of combustion, and is very deadly -- it is the much-dreaded white damp or afterdamp of a mine explosion."
• "An I minded my feyther an uncle -- how they was braat home both togither, when I wor nobbut thirteen years old -- not a scar on em, nobbut a little blood on my feyther's forehead -- but stone dead, both on em -- from the afterdamp."