To stop by a dam; restrain.
A barrier to check the flow of a stream.
A female parent; said of the lower animals.
All the time they were talking Annie was watching Alec's boat, which had dropped down the river, and was floating in the sunshine above the dam. – Alec Forbes of Howglen by George MacDonald
" You know," he said, " she's a dam rotten manager." – The White Peacock by D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence