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damper

noun

  1. mobile plate or valve allowing to regulate the flow of air inside a chimney or other air handling equipment
L14127 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /ˈdæmpɚ/

adj

Etymology: Etymology tree English damp English -er English damper From damp (adjective) + -er.

  1. comparative form of damp: more damp

noun

Etymology: From damp (verb) + -er. The name of the type of bread is first attested in 1825, and originally likely refers to damping the appetite.

  1. Something that damps or checks:
  2. Something that damps or checks:
  3. Something that damps or checks:

    Nor did Sabrina′s presence seem to act as any damper at the modest little festivities.

  4. Something that damps or checks:
  5. Something that damps or checks:

    In general, steel springs were stipulated for primary suspension, although rubber was accepted for auxiliary springing; hydraulic dampers were specified and the use of laminated springs ruled out.

    However, complaints quickly surfaced about the ride quality of the SIG BT41 bogies, which was only cured by the fitting of additional dampers to the bogies and couplers.

  6. Bread made from a basic recipe of flour, water, milk, and salt, but without yeast.

    1827, Peter Cunningham, Two Years in New South Wales, ii.190, quoted in G. A. Wilkes, A Dictionary of Australian Colloquialisms, 1978, →ISBN, The farm-men usually bake their flour into flat cakes, which they call dampers, and cook these in the ashes.

    The flour bespattering Squeaker's now neglected clothes spoke eloquently of his clumsy efforts at damper making.

  7. A shop till.

    A certain class of 'City Arabs' do nothing but steal provisions from shop doors and sell them for one-tenth of their value, or less, […] while a fourth again do nothing but "draw the dampers," i. e. steal from shop-tills.