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What is dominant?
The fifth of a key — and the chord built on it. Its pull back toward the home chord (the ) is the strongest movement in tonal harmony; a dominant seventh sharpens that pull.
In any key, the dominant is the fifth scale degree and the chord rooted there — the 'V.' It's called dominant because of how powerfully it wants to resolve down to the tonic, the key's home chord. Adding a flattened seventh makes a dominant seventh chord, whose internal tightens that pull even further. The blues turns this on its head by making every chord — — a dominant seventh, part of why it carries its restless, unresolved colour.
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