Verb
obstruct with, or as if with, a dam
Source: WordNetEngland may as well dam up the waters of the Nile with bulrushes as to fetter the step of Freedom, more proud and firm in this youthful land than where she treads the sequestered glens of Scotland, or couches herself among the magnificent mountains of Switzerland. Lydia Maria Child
How prone poor Humanity is to dam up the minutest remnants of its freedom, and build an artificial roof to prevent it looking up to the clear blue sky. E. T. A. Hoffmann
dam the gorges of the Yangtse River Source: Internet