tamp
Americanverb (used with object)
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tamps,
present (3rd person singular)
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tamped,
past participle, past
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tamping
present participle
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to force in or down by repeated, rather light, strokes.
He tamped the tobacco in his pipe.
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(in blasting) to fill (a drilled hole) with earth or the like after the charge has been inserted.
verb
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to force or pack down firmly by repeated blows
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to pack sand, earth, etc into (a drill hole) over an explosive
verb
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(tr) to bounce (a ball)
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to pour with rain
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tampsimple
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tampssimple
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have tampedperfect
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has tampedperfect
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am tampingprogressive
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are tampingprogressive
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is tampingprogressive
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have been tampingperfect progressive
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has been tampingperfect progressive
Past
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tampedsimple
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had tampedperfect
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was tampingprogressive
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were tampingprogressive
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had been tampingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tamp
First recorded in 1810–20; perhaps alteration of tampion
Explanation
To tamp is to push or pack down a loose or granular material. If you work as a barista, you'll learn to tamp espresso grounds before running hot water through them. Before a road is paved or a patio is laid out, workers will tamp gravel to provide a sturdy, level base. Old-fashioned, muzzle-loading guns had to be filled with gunpowder, which the user would need to tamp firmly before firing. The tool used to do the tamping is sometimes also called a tamp.
Vocabulary lists containing tamp
The Birchbark House
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The Odyssey
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Prairie Lotus
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Alex Clark, a popular podcast host in the Turning Point USA network, has also been struggling to tamp down her anger over this.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
Paoletta has also fought against the independent Government Accountability Office’s efforts to tamp down the OMB’s violations of budget law.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Peter’s inner despair gets externalized when he invents a genetic inhibitor neck implant to tamp down his sensitivity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
The minutes from the Fed’s June meeting, released Wednesday, appeared to affirm that many top central bankers remain ready to raise rates in the future to tamp down inflation.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
Ebright was dead serious, and he needed to tamp down expectations in Berkeley.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
When I exclaim aloud at this huge number, he tamps down my amazement: “No, no. There’s so much left—90% of this music is still unrecovered, unknown.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
“Seeing all the results tamps down their unrealistic expectations,” he said, as they conclude for themselves that they need to rethink their retirement timetable.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2025
As the job market weakens, paycheck growth slows, which further tamps down buying.
From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2022
Clowse pinned her hopes on another lupus treatment: rituximab, a monoclonal antibody first approved in 1997 that tamps down the immune system.
From Science Magazine ● Mar. 16, 2022
Afterward he tamps the channel through which the litharge discharges.
From De Re Metallica, Translated from the First Latin Edition of 1556 by Georgius Agricola
Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, for his part, has emphasized that inflation must be tamped down, but he has declined to specify how exactly the central bank is likely to handle stubborn price increases.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
But mostly they tamped down speculation about a rift in their partnership.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2026
Vance tamped down expectations before leaving Washington on Friday morning.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2026
Sales more than likely will be tamped down by selling days lost to the snowstorm, lingering store closures, supply-chain delays, and shoppers riding out the frigid temperatures at home.
From Barron's ● Jan. 27, 2026
He gathered the papers he had been working on and tamped the bottom of the pile on his desk to neaten it, and then laid the stack down on the right side of the desk.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
Travel + Leisure’s executives spent much of their investor call last week tamping down concerns about consumer wariness and creditworthiness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
That can work its way into the housing market by shrinking buyers’ budgets and tamping down on home-price growth.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Interventionists are still doing what they’ve always done: preventing retaliatory violence by tamping down rumors and connecting gang members with social services — all while grappling with the traumas of their past lives.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024
Big carnivores such as these cats helped shape the broader animal community, tamping down prey-animal populations and influencing regional biodiversity.
From Science Daily ● May 30, 2024
Lucky or unlucky, the sharp angle of the tamping iron made all the difference to Phineas.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
