tamp
[tamp]
- to force in or down by repeated, rather light, strokes: He tamped the tobacco in his pipe.
- (in blasting) to fill (a drilled hole) with earth or the like after the charge has been inserted.
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Origin of tamp
First recorded in 1810–20; perhaps alteration of tampion
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
load, lade, throng, crowd, bind, stuff, pile, cram, squeeze, smash, crash, slam, stab, sink, thrust, wedge, shove, ram, pack, overcrowdExamples from the Web for tamp
Contemporary Examples
Smiley, meanwhile, tried to tamp down fears by comparing the Ebola outbreak to the SARS outbreak of 2003.
There is still a window of opportunity to tamp it down, but that window is closing.
Sure, water filter makers put a bit of bactericide in their products to tamp down the infestation.
To some degree, Washington colludes with China to tamp down the nuclear threat from North Korea.
An executive of the National Auto Dealers Association claimed it would shut people out of the new car market and tamp down sales.
The Chicken Littles Are Wrong: Environmental Regulations Always Spur InnovationDaniel Gross
June 9, 2014
Historical Examples
I could tamp a keg of powder so snugly into the hole of those skunks!
The Face of the FieldsDallas Lore Sharp
Colonel Fraser paused to tamp down the tobacco in his pipe with a fingertip.
Dave Dawson with the R.A.FR. Sidney Bowen
It is always a profitable labor to tamp the ground firmly about all the posts every spring.
American Grape TrainingLiberty Hyde (L.H.) Bailey
The amount of tamping is indicated by the fact that about 16 men out of 72 on each shift did nothing but tamp.
Concrete ConstructionHalbert P. Gillette
Care was taken to tamp the concrete so as to force the concrete stone into but not through the facing.
Concrete ConstructionHalbert P. Gillette
tamp1
- to force or pack down firmly by repeated blows
- to pack sand, earth, etc into (a drill hole) over an explosive
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Word Origin
C17: probably a back formation from tampin (obsolete variant of tampion), which was taken as being a present participle tamping
tamp2
- (tr) to bounce (a ball)
- (intr usually foll by down) to pour with rain
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Word Origin
probably special use of tamp 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for tamp
v.
1819, "to fill (a hole containing an explosive) with dirt or clay before blasting," a workmen's word, perhaps a back-formation from tampion, that word being mistaken as a present participle (*tamping).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper