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damper

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put the damper on (something)

To discourage or deter something; to make something less enjoyable, pleasant, or fun; to extinguish or lessen people's enthusiasm for something. (A less common variant of "put a damper on something.") The foul weather really put the damper on our picnic yesterday. Without question, this tax scandal has put the damper on the senator's likelihood of being re-elected. CDs quickly became the dominant format for music, but when digital formats arrived soon thereafter, it put the damper on CD sales just as quickly.

See also: damper, on, put

put a damper on something

Fig. to have a dulling or numbing influence on something. The bad news really put a damper on everything. The rainy weather put a damper on our picnic.

See also: damper, on, put

put a damper on something

to make something less enjoyable The terrible weather put a damper on this year's New Year celebrations.

Etymology: a damper is a device that reduces the loudness of sound, esp. on a piano, or controls the temperature of a fire

See also: damper, on, put

put a damper/dampener on something

to stop an occasion from being enjoyable

Usage notes: A damper is a device used on piano strings to make the sound less loud.

Steve lost his wallet so that rather put a damper on the evening. We were both ill while we were in Boston, which put a bit of a dampener on things.

See also: damper, on, put

put a damper on

Discourage, dishearten, deter, as in Grandpa's death put a damper on our Christmas holidays. This idiom employs the noun damper in the sense of "something that damps or depresses the spirits," a usage dating from the mid-1700s.

See also: damper, on, put

put a damper on something

tv. to reduce the intensity of something, such as a problem. The death of the chief put a damper on the ceremony.

See also: damper, on, put