Word: hit Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-der. Proto-Indo-European *kh₂id-néh₂-ti Proto-Germanic *hittijaną Old Norse hittader. Old English hyttan Middle English hitten English hit Inherited 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 West Frisian hitte (“to meet”), Dutch hitten (“to hit, encounter”), 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”). Probably also related to Dutch hei (“mallet”), German Heie (“wooden hammer, mallet”). (something very successful): Compare typologically striking, Russian порази́тельный (porazítelʹnyj) (<~ порази́ть (porazítʹ) <~ рази́ть (razítʹ)). Pronunciation: /hɪt/ 1. A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything. Example: So he the fam'd Cilician fencer prais'd, / And, at each hit, with wonder seem'd amaz'd. Example: The hit was very slight. 2. Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim. Example: Marie Taglioni was another hit for Her Majesty's Theatre last season, and will be a hit again this season[…] Example: 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. 3. A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence. Labels: figuratively Example: His reputation took a hit when the new information came to light. 4. An attack on a location, person or people. 5. A collision of a projectile with the target. Example: 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. 6. A collision of a projectile with the target. 7. A match found by searching a computer system or search engine Labels: Internet 8. A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server. Labels: Internet Example: My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine. 9. An approximately correct answer in a test set. 10. The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice. Example: The catcher got a hit to lead off the fifth. 11. A dose of an illegal or addictive drug. Labels: colloquial Example: Where am I going to get my next hit? 12. A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes. Example: The questions that have always haunted the family — who ordered the hit, and why, and who in London might have known — remain unanswered. 13. A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark. Labels: dated Example: a happy hit Example: What late he called a blessing, now was wit, / And God's good providence, a lucky hit. 14. A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point. 15. A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.