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milldam

American  
[mil-dam] / ˈmɪlˌdæm /

noun

  1. a dam built in a stream to furnish a head of water for turning a mill wheel.

milldam British  
/ ˈmɪlˌdæm /

noun

  1. a dam built in a stream to raise the water level sufficiently for it to turn a millwheel

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of milldam

Middle English word dating back to 1150–1200; see origin at mill 1, dam 1

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.

Apparently, this self-taught prairie lawyer also taught himself how to buoy vessels in his early 20s, when a flatboat he worked on ran aground on a milldam in New Salem, Illinois.

From Slate • May 29, 2014

The puling Zinovi is called hurriedly to repair a break in a far-away milldam.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the spring the shad ran upriver to breed, but they couldn’t get past the milldam, and the pool was just swarming with them.

From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

What would be said of a mill-owner who should let his milldam wash away once or twice each year, and then rebuild it instead of keeping it in constant repair?

From The Road and the Roadside by Potter, Burton Willis

"We have never taken the boat up the river beyond the village, on account of the milldam."

From Uncle Robert's Geography (Uncle Robert's Visit, V.3) by Parker, Francis W. (Francis Wayland)

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.