Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To come into contact with forcefully; strike.
  • intransitive verb To cause to come into contact.
  • intransitive verb To deal a blow to.
  • intransitive verb To cause an implement or missile to come forcefully into contact with.
  • intransitive verb To press or push (a key or button, for example).
  • intransitive verb To reach with a propelled ball or puck.
  • intransitive verb To score in this way.
  • intransitive verb To perform (a shot or maneuver) successfully.
  • intransitive verb To propel with a stroke or blow.
  • intransitive verb To execute (a base hit) successfully.
  • intransitive verb To bat against (a pitcher or kind of pitch) successfully.
  • intransitive verb To affect, especially adversely.
  • intransitive verb To be affected by (a negative development).
  • intransitive verb To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
  • intransitive verb To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to.
  • intransitive verb Informal To go to or arrive at.
  • intransitive verb Informal To attain or reach.
  • intransitive verb To produce or represent accurately.
  • intransitive verb Games To deal cards to.
  • intransitive verb Sports To bite on or take (bait or a lure). Used of a fish.
  • intransitive verb To strike or deal a blow.
  • intransitive verb To come into contact with something; collide.
  • intransitive verb To attack.
  • intransitive verb To happen or occur.
  • intransitive verb To achieve or find something desired or sought.
  • intransitive verb Baseball To bat or bat well.
  • intransitive verb Sports To score by shooting, especially in basketball.
  • intransitive verb To ignite a mixture of air and fuel in the cylinders. Used of an internal-combustion engine.
  • noun A collision or impact.
  • noun A successfully executed shot, blow, thrust, or throw.
  • noun Sports A deliberate collision with an opponent, such as a body check in ice hockey.
  • noun A successful or popular venture.
  • noun A match of data in a search string against data that one is searching.
  • noun A connection made to a website over the Internet or another network.
  • noun An apt or effective remark.
  • noun Baseball A base hit.
  • noun A dose of a narcotic drug.
  • noun A puff of a cigarette or a pipe.
  • noun Slang A murder planned and carried out usually by a member of an underworld syndicate.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hitten, from Old English hyttan, from Old Norse hitta.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hit ("it"), from Old English hit ("it"), from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *k'e-, *k'ey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch het ("it"). More at it. Note 'it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hitten ("to hit, strike, make contact with"), from Old English hittan ("to meet with, come upon, fall in with"), probably of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse hitta ("to strike, meet"), from Proto-Germanic *hitjanan (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *k(')eid- (“to fall, fall upon”). Cognate with Icelandic hitta ("to meet"), Danish hitte ("to find"), Latin caedō ("fall"), Albanian qit ("to hit, throw, pull out, release").

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Examples

Comments

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  • n. (funk) An accent from outside the groove.

    September 29, 2008

  • "hit" has a relatively recent use meaning "to have sex with" (see http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hit). I came here hoping to see some clue as to how recent that word is.

    June 27, 2009

  • "hit" in Hungarian means: faith, belief

    August 1, 2012

  • idiom. hit it big Slang To be successful: investors who hit it big on the stock market.

    March 2, 2013