English Explanatory Dictionary

hammer

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
  2. The act of using a hammer to hit something.
  3. The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
  4. In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
  5. A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
  6. The last stone in an end.
  7. A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
  8. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
  9. One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
  10. Ellipsis of hammer headline.
  11. The accelerator pedal.
  12. A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
verb
  1. To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
  2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
  3. To emphasize a point repeatedly.
  4. To hit particularly hard.
  5. To ride very fast.
  6. To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
  7. To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly.
  8. To make high demands on (a system or service).
  9. To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
  10. To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
  11. To have hard sex with.
noun
  1. someone connected with West Ham Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/ en-uk-hammer.ogg /ˈhæm.ɚ/ en-us-hammer.ogg

Word forms

hammer hammers hammering hammered

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.

Synonyms

pound smash

Related words

mallet hammer out

Derived words

Abinger Hammer adze-eye hammer air hammer atmospheric hammer ball-peen hammer ball peen hammer ball-pein hammer ban hammer between the hammer and the anvil bott hammer brick hammer bring down the hammer bring to the hammer bush hammer claw hammer claw-hammer coat club hammer coal hammer crack hammer cross peen hammer dead-stroke hammer drilling hammer drop hammer drop the hammer emergency hammer forehammer forge-hammer framing hammer golden hammer goldhammer greathammer hammer and anvil hammer and sickle hammer and tongs hammer away hammer beam hammer bench hammer blast hammer blow hammerblow hammer break hammer-dressed hammer drill hammer dulcimer hammer face hammerfish hammer fist hammer-harden hammerhead hammer-headed hammerless hammerlike hammerlock hammerman hammermill hammer-on hammer pond hammer price hammerscale hammersmith

Translations

Swahili: nyundo
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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