hit
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /hɪt/
rhymes: -ɪt
Forms: form: hits
Etymology: From Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”).
Cognates
Cognate with Danish hitte (“to find”), Faroese, Icelandic, Swedish hitta (“to meet”), Norwegian Nynorsk hitta, hitte (“to meet; to find”), Latin caedō (“to kill”), Albanian qit (“to hit, throw, pull out, release”).
Senses: examples: text: So he the fam'd Cilician fencer prais'd, / And, at each hit, with wonder seem'd amaz'd.
ref: 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fourth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
text: The hit was very slight.
glosses: A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
examples: text: Marie Taglioni was another hit for Her Majesty's Theatre last season, and will be a hit again this season[…]
ref: 1848, “Her Majesty's Theatre”, in The Musical World, volume 23:
text: Chico & Rita opens in the modern era, as an aged, weary Chico shines shoes in his native Cuba. Then a song heard on the radio—a hit he wrote and recorded with Rita in their youth—carries him back to 1948 Havana, where they first met.
ref: 2012 February 9, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Chico & Rita”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):
glosses: Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.
examples: text: His reputation took a hit when the new information came to light.
glosses: A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence.
glosses: An attack on a location, person or people.
examples: text: But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.
ref: 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:
glosses: A collision of a projectile with the target.
glosses: A collision of a projectile with the target.
In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: A match found by searching a computer system or search engine
examples: text: My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine.
glosses: A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.
glosses: An approximately correct answer in a test set.
examples: text: The catcher got a hit to lead off the fifth.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice.
examples: text: Where am I going to get my next hit?
glosses: A dose of an illegal or addictive drug.
examples: text: The questions that have always haunted the family — who ordered the hit, and why, and who in London might have known — remain unanswered.
ref: 2023 August 30, Megan K. Stack, Rob Stothard, “He Was Shot 14 Times at the Dinner Table. His Children Want to Know if Britain Ordered the Hit.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.
examples: text: a happy hit
text: What late he called a blessing, now was wit, / And God's good providence, a lucky hit.
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark.
topics: backgammon
games
glosses: A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point.
topics: backgammon
games
glosses: A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.
Derived terms: banjo hit
base hit
bong hit
classic hit
critical hit
cult hit
direct hit
extra base hit
first hit time
gallery hit
hard hit
hit and giggle
hitbox
hit-by-pitch
hit counter
hitjob
hitless
hit list
hitmaker
hitmaking
hit man
hitmarker
hit-out
hit parade
hitperson
hit piece
hit point
hitscan
hit squad
hit test
hit-up
hitwoman
infield hit
king-hit
king hit
megahit
mishit
multihit
nervous hit
no hit
no-hit wonder
nonhit
one-hit kill
one-hit wonder
orchestra hit
pinch hit
sacrifice hit
safe hit
scratch hit
sleeper hit
smash hit
straight hit
superhit
switch hit
take a hit
turntable hit
two-hit wonder