noun

• Something that damps or checks:
• A valve or movable plate in the flue or other part of a stove, furnace, etc., used to check or regulate the draught of air.
• A contrivance (sordine), as in a pianoforte, to deaden vibrations; or, as in other pieces of mechanism, to check some action at a particular time.
• Something that kills the mood.
• A device that decreases the oscillations of a system.
• (mechanical engineering) A shock absorber.
• (chiefly New Zealand, Australia) Bread made from a basic recipe of flour, water, milk, and salt, but without yeast.