Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Hammer
Ham′mer
(hăm′mẽr)
, Noun.
[OE.
hamer
, AS. hamer
, hamor
; akin to D. hamer
, G. & Dan. hammer
, Sw. hammare
, Icel. hamarr
, hammer, crag, and perh. to Gr. ἄκμων
anvil, Skr. açman
stone.] 1.
An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like, consisting of a head, usually of steel or iron, fixed crosswise to a handle.
With busy
hammers
closing rivets up. Shakespeare
2.
Something which in form or action resembles the common hammer
; as: (a)
That part of a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour.
(b)
The padded mallet of a piano, which strikes the wires, to produce the tones.
(c)
(Anat.)
The malleus.
See under Ear
. (d)
(Gun.)
That part of a gunlock which strikes the percussion cap, or firing pin; the cock; formerly, however, a piece of steel covering the pan of a flintlock musket and struck by the flint of the cock to ignite the priming.
(e)
Also, a person or thing that smites or shatters;
as, St. Augustine was the
hammer
of heresies.He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the “massive iron
hammers
” of the whole earth. J. H. Newman.
Atmospheric hammer
, a dead-stroke hammer in which the spring is formed by confined air.
– Drop hammer
, Face hammer
, etc. Hammer fish
. See
– Hammerhead
. Hammer hardening
, the process of hardening metal by hammering it when cold.
– Hammer shell
(Zool.)
, any species of
– Malleus
, a genus of marine bivalve shells, allied to the pearl oysters, having the wings narrow and elongated, so as to give them a hammer-shaped outline; – called also hammer oyster
. To bring to the hammer
, to put up at auction.
Ham′mer
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hammered
(-mẽrd)
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Hammering
.] 1.
To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows;
as, to
. hammer
iron2.
To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
“Hammered money.” Dryden.
3.
To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; – usually with out.
Who was
hammering
out a penny dialogue. Jeffry.
Ham′mer
,Verb.
I.
1.
To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer.
Whereon this month I have been
hammering
. Shakespeare
2.
To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively.
Blood and revenge are
hammering
in my head. Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Hammer
HAM'MER
,Noun.
HAM'MER
,Verb.
T.
1.
To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.2.
To work in the mind; to contrive by intellectual labor; usually with out; as, to hammer out a scheme.HAM'MER
,Verb.
I.
1.
To be working or in agitation.