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# tamp

«tamp» in Mova's school dictionary: **to press or pat it down firmly so it is packed tight…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (tamp, tamps, tamped, tamping); usually «tamp down»

### meaning for a pupil

1) To tamp something means to press or pat it down firmly so it is packed tight, such as soil around a plant or coffee in a machine. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#m1)

2) (formal) To tamp down something like feelings or rumours means to try to calm it or reduce it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In gardening, after planting a seedling you tamp down the soil gently so the plant stands firm. Builders tamp down gravel or concrete. In cafés a barista tamps the coffee. In news writing, «to tamp down fears» means to calm worries. Phrases: «tamp down», «tamp the soil», «tamp it firm».

### examples

- Tamp the soil down around the bean plant with your fingers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x1)
- The builder tamped the gravel flat before laying the slabs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x2)
- The barista tamped the coffee into the little metal cup. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x3)
- Grandad tamped the tobacco into his old pipe. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x4)
- The head teacher tried to tamp down the rumours about the closure. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x5)
- After filling the hole, we tamped it down with our boots. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/tamp/#x6)

### note

Regular verb: tamped, tamping. Usually with «down». Not to be confused with «stamp» (to bring your foot down hard) or «tamper» (to interfere with something secretly), though a tool for tamping is called a «tamper».

### In the corpora

- [«She's tamping if you rush her,» he says — in South Wales «tamping» means furious.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/459-the-dog-that-wags-at-last-and-the-one-that-never-does/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

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