damp

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
damp/damp/

▶adjective slightly wet. ▶noun

• 1 moisture in the air, on a surface, or in a solid, typically with detrimental or unpleasant effects.

  ■ (damps) archaic damp air or atmosphere.

• 2 archaic a check or discouragement.

▶verb

• 1 make damp.

• 2 (often damp something down) make (a fire) burn less strongly by reducing its air supply.

  ■ control or restrain (a feeling or a situation).

• 3 reduce or stop the vibration of (the strings of a musical instrument).

  ■ Physics progressively reduce the amplitude of (an oscillation or vibration).

– derivatives
dampish adjective,
damply adverb,
dampness noun.

– origin ME (in the sense ‘noxious inhalation’): of W. Gmc origin.