Definition of "dam" []

• A barrier constructed across a waterway to control the flow or raise the level of water. (noun)
• A body of water controlled by such a barrier. (noun)
• A barrier against the passage of liquid or loose material, as a rubber sheet used in dentistry to isolate one or more teeth from the rest of the mouth. (noun)
• An obstruction; a hindrance. (noun)
• To hold back or confine by means of a dam. (verb-transitive)

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.

• "Completed in 1991, the dam is a joint effort of of the governments of Brazil and Paraguay."
• "Apparently, the dam is already under a lot of stress because of all the silt that the river carries that it used to dump on the floodplain."
• "And so in China, the army starts displacing villagers to begin what it calls a dam-building project."