/dam"peuhr/ , n.
1. a person or thing that damps or depresses: His glum mood put a damper on their party.
2. a movable plate for regulating the draft in a stove, furnace, etc.
3. Music.
a. a device in stringed keyboard instruments to deaden the vibration of the strings.
b. the mute of a brass instrument, as a horn.
4. Elect. an attachment to keep the indicator of a measuring instrument from oscillating excessively, as a set of vanes in a fluid or a short-circuited winding in a magnetic field.
5. Mach. a shock absorber.
6. Australian.
a. a round, flat cake made of flour and water, and cooked over a campfire.
b. the dough for such cakes.
[ 1740-50; DAMP + -ER 1 ]