Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A wrestling hold in which the opponent's arm is pulled behind the back and twisted upward.
- n. Overwhelming dominance that is difficult if not impossible to overcome: "has preserved its hammerlock on the business largely because of its reputation for quality” ( Fortune).
Wiktionary
WordNet 3.0
- n. a wrestling hold in which the opponent's arm is twisted up behind his back
Examples
“Brokers don't like the fact that the combined group will have a hammerlock on Europe's futures markets—which they say makes it tougher for newcomers and raises the specter of high fees.”
“We need to break the hammerlock of the East Coast, particularly the Ivies, on power in this country.”
“You may despair that the rationality required to face up to reality will never overcome the fundamentalism, know-nothingism and magic thinking that has a hammerlock on our national psyche.”
The Huffington Post: Marty Kaplan: Pessimism Is the Last Taboo
“RUDIN: No, and that's one that the Democrats should have run away with, and that's the one with Richard Blumenthal, the state attorney general, against Linda McMahon, the former wrestling executive, who seems to have a hammerlock on him going into November 2nd.”
“But as the year goes on, we'll try to break some of that hammerlock, both so that environmental review can go forward, and so that we can stop wasting taxpayer money on subsidies and handouts to the industry.”
“Given the hammerlock that Visa, Mastercard and American Express have on the market, the only sure way to prevent them from charging excessive fees and earning monopoly-like profits is through direct regulation.”
The Washington Post: Credit card companies figure out how to spin straw into gold
“The realist in me has the optimist in me in a hammerlock.”
“Alaa Abd El Fattah, an activist and well known political blogger in Cairo, toldDemocracy Now that the crowd “could continue to escalate, either by claiming more places or by actually moving inside these buildings, if the need comes.” With the economy choking to death, the demonstrators were now moving to put a hammerlock on the government apparatus itself.”
The Huffington Post: Michael Schwartz: The (Sometimes) Incredible Power of Nonviolent Protest
“The MA Dems have a hammerlock on the legislative process.”
“You could sleep your way through the whole presidential campaign and -- no matter what the outcome -- wake up to find that big money still has a hammerlock on government.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘hammerlock’.
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End in -ock
Inspired by fbharjo (see spitchcock).
spitchcock, hillock, willock, peacock, pajock, penock, yapock, sycock, bittock, bawcock, burrock, cammock and 168 more...
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Words of the Times
Words discovered while reading The New York Times, each with a citation from the paper.
testilying, ghost talk, apneist, solastalgia, izakaya, hooker, telectroscope, airflyte, phomance, bromhidrosis, stinky feet, cupping and 482 more...
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simple & useful13
rookeries, bottommost, nettlesome, extravaganza, galoot, gun moll, kludge, pollyannaish, bushwhacking, revivable, flourishing, resurgence and 97 more...
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Wrestling with Words
Wrestling holds and moves. (Not professional wrestling, which deserves its own list.)
flying mare, scissor grip, scissors hold, toe hold, strangle, stranglehold, japanese strangle..., bear hug, Nelson, full nelson, half nelson, lock and 19 more...
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yang wordicisms
turbosupercharger, armature, big, hairy, fat, ..., hornswoggle, hammerlock, thuggish, hawser, paladin
Tweets
Looking for tweets for hammerlock.
john "Free-trade advocates also complain, saying that a private business has used the shelter of the federal sugar program, created in the Depression to nurture struggling farmers, to increase its corporate hammerlock."
The New York Times, Helping the Everglades, or Big Sugar?, by Mary Williams Walsh, September 13, 2008 Sep 13, 2008