damming

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of dam.

   Engineers spent the summer damming the valley to form a reservoir.

   Damming the river upstream changed the water flow for every town below.

   Note

   The -ing form doubles the final m of dam, the usual spelling for a short verb ending in a single vowel and consonant. Because the verb is transitive, damming takes its object directly: damming the river, damming the valley. That is the quickest way to tell it from the noun for the work itself, which needs of (the damming of the river) and can even be plural, dammings.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The construction or installation of a barrier built to block the flow of water.

   The damming of the river created a large reservoir upstream.

   Environmental groups opposed the damming because it threatened salmon migration.

   Similarimpoundment

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