Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A hand tool consisting of a handle with a head of metal or other heavy rigid material that is attached at a right angle, used for striking or pounding.
- n. A tool or device similar in function or action to this striking tool, as:
- n. The part of a gunlock that hits the primer or firing pin or explodes the percussion cap and causes the gun to fire.
- n. Music One of the padded wooden pieces of a piano that strikes the strings.
- n. A part of an apparatus that strikes a gong or bell, as in a clock.
- n. Anatomy See malleus.
- n. Sports A metal ball weighing 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms) and having a long wire or wooden handle by which it is thrown for distance in track-and-field competition.
- n. A small mallet used by auctioneers.
- v. To hit, especially repeatedly, with or as if with a hammer; pound. See Synonyms at beat.
- v. To beat into a shape with or as if with a hammer: hammered out the dents in the fender; hammered out a contract acceptable to both sides.
- v. To put together, fasten, or seal, particularly with nails, by hammering.
- v. To force upon by constant repetition: hammered the information into the students' heads.
- v. To defeat soundly.
- v. To inflict a heavy loss or damage on.
- v. To deal repeated blows with or as if with a hammer; pummel: "Wind hammered at us violently in gusts” ( Thor Heyerdahl).
- v. To undergo beating in the manner of a hammer: My pulse hammered.
- v. Informal To keep at something continuously: hammered away at the problem.
- idiom. under the hammer For sale at an auction.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An instrument consisting of a solid head, usually of metal, but sometimes of wood or of stone, set crosswise to the handle, used for beating metals, driving nails or spikes, dressing or breaking stones, etc.; hence, a machine in which a heavy block of metal is used for such a purpose. See steam-hammer, tilt-hammer, trip-hammer. The head of the hammer is made in various forms, according to the use to which it is to be put. Hammers of stone are found among the remains of antiquity, and are still in use among barbarous races. The hammer has also been used as a weapon of attack in war. See
martel-de-fer . - n. Something which resembles the common hammer in form, action, or use. The piece in a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour; the striker.
- n. A door-knocker.
- n. In anatomy, the malleus.
- n. The head of a sphyrnid or hammer-headed shark.
- n. Figuratively, an aggressive and destructive foe: as, a hammer of heretics (Latin malleus hœreticorum).
- n. Same as fylfot.
- n. A pendent ornament, usually of silver, found among relics of the prehistoric iron age in the north of Europe. It has somewhat the shape of a mallet, and is undoubtedly intended to represent a hammer as weapon or utensil.
- To beat or drive with or as if with a hammer; pound; beat: as, to hammer iron or steel; to hammer one with the fist.
- To fasten with a hammer by nailing or otherwise; construct by the use of the hammer.
- To form or forge with a hammer; shape by beating: often with out.
- To work upon in the mind; contrive by intellectual labor; excogitate: usually with out: as, to hammer out a scheme.
- To strike something repeatedly with or as if with a hammer.
- To work industriously or persistently; be very busy; labor in contrivance: as, to be hammering away at an invention.
- To be working or in agitation; keep up an excited action or state of feeling.
- To stammer.
- n. A yellowhammer or bunting. As used in the following passage the meaning of the word is uncertain. See etymology.
- n. In athletics, a 16-pound weight (or a 12-pound weight for school-boys), attached by ball-bearing to a wire handle, which competitors, standing in a marked circle, endeavor to throw as far as possible. The old-fashioned hammer had an ordinary stiff wooden handle.
- To declare (a member) to be in default, after notice by hammering three times on the rostrum.
- To beat down or depress (price or the market); bear.
- To make a knocking noise, as a steam-pipe when steam is let on and a water-hammer is produced. See water-hammer, 2.
Wiktionary
- n. A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- n. A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
- n. anatomy The malleus.
- n. music In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
- n. sports A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
- n. curling The last rock in an end.
- n. Ultimate Frisbee A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
- v. To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
- v. figuratively To emphasize a point repeatedly.
- v. sports To hit particularly hard.
- v. To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
- v. figuratively, sports To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like, consisting of a head, usually of steel or iron, fixed crosswise to a handle.
- n. Something which in form or action resembles the common hammer.
- n. That part of a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour.
- n. The padded mallet of a piano, which strikes the wires, to produce the tones.
- n. (Anat.) The malleus.
- n. (Gun.) That part of a gunlock which strikes the percussion cap, or firing pin; the cock; formerly, however, a piece of steel covering the pan of a flintlock musket and struck by the flint of the cock to ignite the priming.
- n. Also, a person or thing that smites or shatters
- n. (Athletics) A spherical weight attached to a flexible handle and hurled from a mark or ring. The weight of head and handle is usually not less than 16 pounds.
- v. To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows.
- v. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
- v. To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; -- usually with
out . - v. To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer.
- v. To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the ossicle attached to the eardrum
- n. the act of pounding (delivering repeated heavy blows)
- v. create by hammering
- v. beat with or as if with a hammer
- n. a power tool for drilling rocks
- n. a heavy metal sphere attached to a flexible wire; used in the hammer throw
- n. a hand tool with a heavy rigid head and a handle; used to deliver an impulsive force by striking
- n. a light drumstick with a rounded head that is used to strike such percussion instruments as chimes, kettledrums, marimbas, glockenspiels, etc.
- n. a striker that is covered in felt and that causes the piano strings to vibrate
- n. the part of a gunlock that strikes the percussion cap when the trigger is pulled
Etymologies
- Middle English hamer, Old English hamor, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (compare Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Swedish hammare). The Germanic *hamaraz "tool with a stone head" continues a Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros (compare Sanskrit aśmará 'stony'). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor; see ak- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When building a house, a hammer is an important tool.”
“Sounds like the hammer is a much better tool than kissing but like Carter and Clinton did.”
Think Progress » VIDEO: Zahn Interviews McGovern, Defends Rumsfeld
“Union officials said the Government's defence cuts were to blame for the job losses, which they described as a "hammer blow" to manufacturing, as orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon combat jet slow down.”
“Page 168 the queen's work-box, and, in defiance of all my efforts to prevent him, he seized one piece, which he called a hammer, and began violently knocking the table with it.”
“At arrow number 3 the stock comes down to touch the 20 day moving average intra day but bounces strongly and closes nearly positive in what we call a hammer candle.”
“But at some point, doesn't it make sense to ask if dropping that kind of hammer is equal to the offense?”
When Common Sense and NY State Politics Collide: The Wine Bag Issue
“And the "lawyer" safety on their lever actions has one good use, while emptying the gun, other than that it's off and hammer is on the first click.”
Rifle Shooting's 10 Most Significant Developments of the Decade
“While you are loading the rifle by inserting cartridges in the tubular magazine, it does not matter what position the hammer is in.”
“So it should come as no surprise that the hammer is being dropped, even as I write this, on anyone critical of that monument to hucksters 'ethics, the Vancouver Olympic Games.”
“At a press conference yesterday, GOP members of Congress convened to again hammer the lie home that health reform will provide taxpayer funds for abortion.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hammer’.
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Fight scene words
Great words to teach you how to write a fight scene - and for those writers who want to get the old gears of the mind cranking, here's a few fight scene tips to get you started - this is NOT by me,...
Slam, Sidestep, Evade, Roundhouse, Momentum, Counter, Clip, Feeding Frenzy, Advance, Cuff, Ambush, Nimbly and 260 more...
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fight
words for fighting
( open list, randomness )bout, fight, match, smackdown, blue, stoush, battle, clash, fuss, fray, ruckus, tussle and 115 more...
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Curling, The Roaring Game
Terms and phrases associated with the game and sport of curling.
hack, tee, hogscore, hatch, trigger, stone, end, sweeper, broom, curling sheet, hog line, centre line and 288 more...
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TECH - tools
A very wide category. There are possibly tens of thousands tool words in each of the world's languages.
broom, brush, feather duster, floor buffer, hataki, mop, mop bucket cart, needlegun scaler, pipe cleaner, pressure washer, sandblaster, sponge and 286 more...
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Not edible
Things that sound edible but are not (usually). See Liberty's To Eat, or Not to Eat? for more diet food.
cinnabar, dulcimer, belfries, potto, maltha, grapple, loam, rake, tort, pomade, buffalo chip, wedgie and 172 more...
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)polythene, Sun King, rhythm and blues, taxman, tripper, monkey business, mailman, matchbox, rock and roll, ooh, blue jay, reprise and 388 more...
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EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
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Figuratively
Words with definitions containing "figuratively."
spore, plunge, fulminate, rasp, hinge, niche, breathe, approach, hammer, rain, butcher, dazzle and 132 more...
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SCIE - neurology
abducens.....draw..., ablation.....carr..., acetylcholine......., adrenalin.....nea..., afferent.....to c..., agnosia.....no kn..., alar.....wing-like, alexia.....no words, alveus.....canal, amacrine.....no l..., ambidextrous........, ambiguus.....doub... and 701 more...
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The Fixer
Got a problem? Find the solution here. All the words herelisted are guaranteed to make other stuff better. If not satisfied see John for your money back or go ask Abby.
ointment, nice cup of tea, hammer, hug, vacation, duct tape, the Marines, monkey wrench, chocolate, clean socks, bubble wrap, the argyle cold w... and 13 more...
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Construction Zone
Help me build a list of things you'd find in a construction zone or at a construction site.
rebar, lumber, cement, plywood, hard hat, hammer, nails, nail gun, insulation, electrical wiring, wood, crane and 62 more...
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Words the sound like their meaning
love, hate, butterfly, whisper, shout, boil, simmer, glide, kiss, wisp, hum, hammer and 30 more...
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Nouns for XKCD936-compliant passphrases
A list of 2048 common English nouns (of 4 letters or more) that could be used to generate plausible, memorable random phrases.
I'm going to use this list in a password generator, inspi...miracle, hotdog, chair, horse, staple, battery, beer, cheese, fire, head, hand, foot and 15 more...
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ambilexicon
Heebie-jeebies
hands, houses, birds, boats, bathysphere, hammer, held, balance, boxes, hoax, breakfast, hear and 8 more...
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Literally
Words with definitions that contain the word "literally."
Biblicist, cy pres, literally, lit., loan translation, metaphrase, polite, Embarrass, repentance, rabbi, sparkle, article and 30 more...
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Nom de Guerre Finder
You've taken all the other quizzes--you've already used the name of your first pet and you're tired of having to use the name of the first street where you lived. Now it's time to find your excitin...
odyssey, dawn, desert, storm, noble, eagle, shield, freedom, enduring, swift, sharp, edge and 50 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hammer.

whichbe That which makes more ham. Nov 26, 2008
bilby Nor I nor Emma had level'd a hammer on iron. Oct 18, 2008
jennarenn M.C. Jun 26, 2008