hammer
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)
ipa: /ˈhæm.ɚ/
Forms: form: hammers
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.
Senses: examples: text: Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together
glosses: A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
examples: text: The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.
glosses: The act of using a hammer to hit something.
topics: anatomy
medicine
sciences
glosses: The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
examples: text: The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
topics: ball-games
curling
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: The last stone in an end.
glosses: A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
glosses: Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
examples: text: St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
text: He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.
ref: 1849, John Henry Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations:
glosses: One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
examples: text: Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.
ref: 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing, page 104:
topics: journalism
media
glosses: Ellipsis of hammer headline.
examples: text: We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town.
I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck
And I'm about to put the hammer down."
ref: 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
motor-racing
racing
sports
glosses: The accelerator pedal.
examples: text: But the Englishman was close to him—so close that his hand reached the leveled barrel a fraction of a second before the hammer fell upon the cartridge, and the bullet that was intended for Tarzan’s heart whirred harmlessly above his head.
ref: 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 219:
text: Nonstop hammer cock, violent mannered shots land a lot
ref: 2016, Doseone, “Enter the Gungeon”, in Enter the Gungeon OST:
text: In the course of a single month this year, the following news reports emanated from Florida: A gun enthusiast in Tampa built a 55-foot backyard pool shaped like a revolver, with a hot tub in the hammer.
ref: 2023 March 27, Helen Lewis, “How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?”, in The Atlantic:
topics: engineering
firearms
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
glosses: A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
examples: text: Another one of my peoples came to me with a plan. "Yo, man, I need to get some money. I need to borrow that hammer." So I gave him my nickel-plated .357 with a wooden handle, and off he went to stand by the weed spot.
ref: 2018, U-God [Lamont Hawkins], Raw: My Journey Into The Wu-Tang, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 119:
qualifier: African-American Vernacular
glosses: A handgun.
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Abinger Hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: adze-eye hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: air hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: atmospheric hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: ball-peen hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: ball peen hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: ball-pein hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: ban hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: between the hammer and the anvil
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: bott hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: brick hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: bring down the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: bring to the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: bush hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: claw hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: claw-hammer coat
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: coal hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: cross peen hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: dead-stroke hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: drop hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: drop the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: emergency hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: forehammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: forge-hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: framing hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: goldhammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: greathammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer and anvil
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer and sickle
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer and tongs
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer away
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer beam
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer bench
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer blast
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer blow
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerblow
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer break
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer-dressed
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer dulcimer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerfish
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer fist
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer-harden
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerhead
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer-headed
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerless
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerlike
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerlock
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerman
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammermill
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer-on
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer pond
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer price
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerscale
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammersmith
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Hammersmith
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerspace
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerstone
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer throw
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer thrower
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammertoe
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammer toe
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerwise
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: hammerwort
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: knight of the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: lay the hammer down
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: life hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Lucerne hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: lump hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Maslow's hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: meteor hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: monkey hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: nail the hammer on the head
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: patent hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: percussion hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: pick hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: pole hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: put the hammer down
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: reflex hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: safety hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: shoe hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: sickle and hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: sledgehammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: snowball hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: snowshoe hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: spammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: spring hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: steak hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: steam hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: stone hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: stonemason's hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: straight peen hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Thor's hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: tilt hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: toffee hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: trip-hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: trip hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: tuning hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: underhammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: under the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: up to the hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: war hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: Warrington hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: water hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: wrench hammer
sense: Terms derived from hammer (noun)
word: yellow hammer
Related terms: mallet