damage - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English damage, from Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum. Compare modern French dommage. Largely displaced native Middle English scath (whence unscathed). Cognate with Spanish daño.

damage (countable and uncountable, plural damages)

  1. Injury or harm; the condition or measure of something not being intact.
    the damage is already done
    The storm did a lot of damage to the area.
    • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Friendship”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
      Great errors and absurdities many […] commit for want of a friend to tell them of them, to the great damage both of their fame and fortune.
  2. (slang) Cost or expense.
    "What's the damage?" he asked the waiter.

Currently it is only used as an uncountable noun,[1][2][3][4][5] except in the specialist legal plural-only sense, which see. There are few examples of the obsolete countable (singular) use.[6]

abstract measure of something not being intact; harm

cost or expense

damage (third-person singular simple present damages, present participle damaging, simple past and past participle damaged)

  1. (transitive) To impair the soundness, goodness, or value of; to harm or cause destruction.
    Synonyms: harm, injure; see also Thesaurus:harm, Thesaurus:destroy
    Be careful not to damage any of the fragile items while unpacking them.
    Cold temperatures, heavy rain, falling rocks, strong winds and glacier movement can damage the equipment.
    • 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, book 2, chapter 7, 5:
      The building was erected in two years, at the parochial expence, on the foundation of the former one, which was irreparably damaged by the hurricane of Auguſt, 1712.
  2. (intransitive, obsolete) To undergo damage; to take damage.
  3. (transitive) To remove a damaged or unsalable item from the sales floor for processing.
    Did you damage the items that the customer returned yet?

to make something less intact or even destroy it; to harm or cause destruction

Translations to be checked

  1. ^ “damage”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
  2. ^ “damage”, in Collins English Dictionary, 2011–present.
  3. ^ “damage” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
  4. ^ “damage” (US) / “damage” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
  5. ^ “damage”, in Oxford Learner's Dictionaries
  6. ^ “that I…brought faire beauty to so fowle a domage” (Thomas Watson, The tears of Fancie, or Love disdained, 1593); “…however, ’tis an unspeakable damage to him for want of his money.” (Daniel Defoe, Colonel Jack, 1840)

From Old French damage, from Vulgar Latin *damnāticum.

damage (plural damages)

  1. damage, harm, injury
  2. loss (of reputation, etc.)
  3. (rare) disability, weakness
  4. (law, often in the plural) damages (compensation for loss)

From Vulgar Latin *damnāticum from Classical Latin damnum.

damage oblique singular, m (oblique plural damages, nominative singular damages, nominative plural **damage)

  1. damage
  2. injury, hurt, insult