hammer
UK /ˈhæmə/ · US /ˈhæmɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms hammers hammering hammered
- noun A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding. “Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together.”
- noun The act of using a hammer to hit something. “The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.”
- noun (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
- noun (music) In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string. “The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings”
- noun (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
- noun (curling) The last stone in an end.
- noun (frisbee) A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
- noun Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
- verb To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc. “Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.”
- verb To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
- verb (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
- verb (sports, etc.) To hit particularly hard.
- verb (cycling, intransitive, slang) To ride very fast.
- verb (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer. “I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.”
- verb (transitive, slang, figuratively, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly. “We hammered them 5-0!”
- verb (transitive, slang, computing) To make high demands on (a system or service).
- noun (soccer) someone connected with West Ham Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
pound smash cock malleus mallet power hammer hammering pounding forge
Etymology
From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). This is traditionally ascribed to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”), but see *hamaraz for further discussion.
(declare a defaulter on the stock exchange): Originally signalled by knocking with a wooden mallet.
Shortened West Ham + -er, with a pun on hammer.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like, consisting of a head, usually of steel or iron, fixed crosswise to a handle.
- noun Something which in firm or action resembles the common hammer; as: (a) That part of a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour.
- verb To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows; as, to hammer iron.
- verb To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating. "Hammered money." Dryden.
Etymology [OE. hamer, AS. hamer, hamor; akin to D. hamer, G. & Dan. hammer, Sw. hammare, Icel. hamarr, hammer, crag, and perh. to Gr. a stone.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “hammer”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details