[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/dam.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The Judaism dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/) / dam

[← D](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/D/)

# dam

«dam» in Mova's judaism dictionary: **a strong wall built across a river to hold back the…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a dam, dams); verb (dam, dams, dammed, damming)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A dam is a strong wall built across a river to hold back the water, making a lake behind it called a reservoir. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#m1)

2) A dam is also a wall of sticks and mud built by beavers across a stream. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#m2)

3) To dam a river is to build a dam across it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#m3)

4) A dam is also the mother of an animal such as a horse or dog. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In the Torah it means the mother of an animal, not a wall that holds back water. In Isaiah it means a barrier that holds back water in the river, as the dams of Egypt. Interpretation: An animal's young must stay seven days with its mother before it can be offered. A mother bird must be sent away before taking her young, a law the rabbis read as a lesson in kindness. Isaiah's dams are read as part of his warning that Egypt's rivers and trade will fail. In the primary lessons: In geography and science, dams store water for drinking and farming, stop floods and make electricity with moving water (hydroelectric power). In nature lessons beavers build dams. Phrases: build a dam, the dam burst, a beaver dam, dam up.

### examples

- Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen, and with thy sheep; seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it Me. (Torah EXO.22.30, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x1)
- thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, but the young thou mayest take unto thyself; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. (Torah DEU.22.7, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x2)
- And her foundations shall be crushed, all they that make dams shall be grieved in soul. (Prophets ISA.19.10, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x3)
- The dam holds back millions of litres of water. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x4)
- Beavers build dams from sticks and mud. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x5)
- Water rushing through the dam turns turbines to make electricity. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x6)
- After heavy rain, the dam was nearly full. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x7)
- We dammed the little stream with stones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x8)
- In the story, the dam burst and the village flooded. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x9)
- The lake behind the dam is called a reservoir. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x10)
- "Oh, yes, my bonnie lassie," said the mill-dam. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/#x11)

### note

Countable noun: a dam, dams. Verb: dam, dammed, damming (double m). Homophone trap: «damn» (a swear word) sounds the same but has a silent n; do not mix them up.

### In the corpora

- [And her foundations shall be crushed, all they that make dams shall be grieved in soul.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/neviim/jps/ISA.393/)
- [Dams on rivers, roads, new buildings and the loss of resting places along the way all make migration harder today.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/54-migration-the-great-journeys/17/)
- [Some dams have been repaired for hundreds of years by family after family of beavers, each one fixing the dam it inherited.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/242-animal-builders-beavers-dams-and-lodges/13/)
- [Beaver dams slow floods, clean water and make ponds full of life, though some farmers worry about flooded fields.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/283-wolves-in-yellowstone-beavers-in-britain-and-bringing-nature-back/11/)
- [Nets, electric fishing and dams did the rest, and the giant Chinese paddlefish was lost too.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/379-china-s-great-rivers-the-finless-porpoise-the-lost-baiji-chinese-alligators-and-sturgeon/5/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «dam» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/D/dam/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.