Damp Meaning
/ˈdæmp/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjIn a state between dry and wet; moderately wet; moist.
adjDespondent; dispirited, downcast.
Sentence Examples
Clean the window with a damp cloth.
Don't put that damp towel into the bag.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the rain, the ____ basement smelled of mildew and mold.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Clean the window with a ____ cloth.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She said no more. The trembling Trojans hear,
O'erspread with a damp sweat and holy fear."
— 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 364, lines 84-85:
"All these and more came flocking; but with looks / Down cast and damp."
— 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 522-3:
"The Roadhouse was twenty-seve miles down the road from Niniltna, nine feet and three inches outside the Niniltna Native Association's tribal jurisdiction, and therefore not subject to the dry law currently in effect. Or was it damp? Kate thought it might have changed, yet again, at the last election, from dry to damp, or maybe it was from wet to damp."
— 2002, Dana Stabenow, A Fine and Bitter Snow, →ISBN, page 32:
"Ere twice in murk and occidental damp / Moist Hesperus hath quench’d his sleepy lamp,"
— c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
"What means this chilling damp that clings around me! / Why do I tremble thus!"
— 1764, Elizabeth Griffith, Amana, London: W. Johnston, act V, page 49:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After the rain, the ____ basement smelled of mildew and mold.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Clean the window with a ____ cloth.