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Glite Dictionary
Hoover Dam

Hoover Dam

4 3.7
A large concrete dam on the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona that makes electricity and forms Lake Mead
  • proper noun
  • /ˈhuːvər dæm/
translation icon : Represa Hoover
  • At the dawn of big government, in the 1930s, we built the Hoover Dam.

Examples

  • The Hoover Dam, which generates hydroelectric power, is located on the Colorado River.

  • We built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge.

    Blog text (16)

  • If judged by the many benefits it provides, Hoover Dam is one of the most successful projects ever carried out.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Construction on the Hoover Dam began on September 30, 1930.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Hoover Dam is the keystone to a delivery system that provides water to more than 18,000,000 people in Arizona, California, and Nevada.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Washington, D.C. -- The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) has named Hoover Dam a Civil Engineering Monument of the Millennium.

    Academic text (2001)

  • On an unseasonably hot morning this fall, my 11-year-old son and I set off for Hoover Dam, his first time to tour the American engineering wonder that draws nearly 1 million visitors a year.

    Blog text (29)

  • Hoover Dam was the first single structure to contain more masonry than the Great Pyramid at Giza.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Visitors flock to see the Hoover Dam, a monumental feat of engineering in the 20th century.

  • With its impressive height, the Hoover Dam creates a stunning reservoir known as Lake Mead.

Synonyms

dam
vsHoover Dam
205 1.8

A barrier across a river that holds back water

is a concrete barrier built to generate hydroelectric power and form Lake Mead

Surface Forms

Hoover Dam main

Morphology

Hoover + dam

This is a proper-name + noun combination: if a learner knows 'Hoover' as a name and 'dam' as an engineered barrier, they can infer it refers to a dam called Hoover. Detailed attributes (location, hydroelectric power, Lake Mead) are not derivable from the parts, but the basic referent (that it is a dam) is transparently compositional and follows common naming patterns.

Etymology

Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover, who helped start the big building project in the 1930s, so his name stuck to the huge concrete dam that holds back the river, makes a lake, and produces electricity.