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DAMP

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 790 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DAMP , a See also:

common See also:Teutonic word, meaning vapour or mist (cf. Ger. Dampf, See also:steam), and hence moisture. In its See also:primitive sense the word persists in the vocabulary of See also:coal-miners. Their " firedamp " (formerly fulminating damp) is See also:marsh See also:gas, which, when mixed with See also:air and exploded, produced " choke damp," "after damp," or " suffocating damp " (See also:carbon dioxide). " See also:Black damp " consists of accumulations of irrespirable gases, mostly See also:nitrogen, which cause the See also:lights to See also:burn dimly, and the See also:term " See also:white damp " is sometimes applied to carbon monoxide. As a verb, the word means to stifle or check ; hence damped vibrations or oscillations are those which have been reduced or stopped, instead of being allowed to See also:die out naturally; the " dampers " of the piano are small pieces of See also:felt-covered See also:wood which fall upon the strings and stop their vibrations as the keys are allowed to rise; and the " damper " of a See also:chimney or flue, by restricting the See also:draught, lessens the See also:rate of See also:combustion.

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DAMPIER, WILLIAM (1652-1715)

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