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"dam" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often dike (4 letters).
Definitions
female parent of an animal especially domestic livestock
Word origin
From Middle English dam, from Old English *damm, from Proto-West Germanic *damm, from Proto-Germanic *dammaz.
Used in a sentence
“A dam is often an essential source of water to farmers of hilly country.”
“Nothing could be more business-like than the construction of the stout dams, and nothing more gently rural than the limpid lakes, with the grand old forest trees marshalled round their margins[…]”
“Boats may only be used at places set aside for boating on the dam.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer5 curated clues
01“River barrier”3 letters
02“Barrier holding back water”3 letters
03“Wall across a river”3 letters
04“Mother of an animal”3 letters
05“Water barrier”3 letters
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