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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.
See under
Drop
,
Face
, 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
iron
.
2.
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.
An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like. It consists of an iron head, fixed crosswise to a handle. Hammers are of various sizes; a large hammer used by smiths is called a sledge.

HAM'MER

,
Verb.
T.
To beat with a hammer; as, to hammer iron or steel.
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.
To work; to be busy; to labor in contrivance.
1.
To be working or in agitation.

Definition 2024

Hammer

Hammer

See also: hammer, hämmer, and Hämmer

English

Noun

Hammer ‎(plural Hammers)

  1. (soccer) someone connected with West Ham Football Club, as a fan, player, coach etc.

German

Etymology

From Old High German hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”). Compare Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, English hammer, West Frisian hammer, Danish hammer.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhamɐ/

Noun

Hammer m ‎(genitive Hammers, plural Hämmer or Hammer, diminutive Hämmerchen n or Hämmerlein n)

  1. hammer, mallet
    Er schlug sich mit dem Hammer auf den Daumen.
    He hit his thumb with the hammer.
  2. (informal) sensation
    Die Entlassung des Ministers war ein Hammer.
    The minister's dismissal was a sensation.
  3. (sports) a hard shot, slam
    Der Torwart parierte einen Hammer von der Strafraumgrenze.
    The keeper saved a hard shot from the 18-yard line.

Usage notes

The unchanged plural Hammer is not uncommonly heard for senses 2 and 3. In the concrete sense “hammer”, it would be non-standard.

Declension

Derived terms

hammer

hammer

See also: Hammer, hämmer, and Hämmer

English

A hammer (tool).

Noun

hammer ‎(plural hammers)

  1. A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
  2. A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
  3. (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
  4. (music) In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
  5. (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
  6. (curling) The last rock in an end.
  7. (Ultimate Frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown 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.
    St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
    • J. H. Newman
      He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Verb

hammer ‎(third-person singular simple present hammers, present participle hammering, simple past and past participle hammered)

  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.
    • Dryden
      hammered money
  3. (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
  4. (sports) To hit particularly hard.
    • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, in BBC:
      This time the defender was teed up by Andrew Johnson's short free-kick on the edge of the box and Baird hammered his low drive beyond Begovic's outstretched left arm and into the bottom corner, doubling his goal tally for the season and stunning the home crowd.
  5. (cycling, intransitive, slang) To ride very fast.
    • 2011, Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France (page 58)
      Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, I hammered into Obterre.
  6. (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
    I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.
  7. (transitive, figuratively, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly
    We hammered them 5-0!

Derived terms

See also

Translations

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /hamər/, [ˈhɑmɐ]

Noun

hammer c (singular definite hammeren, plural indefinite hammere or hamre)

  1. hammer

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈhamɐ/
  • Homophone: Hammer

Verb

hammer

  1. (colloquial, regional) Contraction of haben wir.
    Da hammer jetz' keine Zeit für.
    We don't have time for that now.

Usage notes

This contraction is common throughout central Germany, southern Germany, and Austria. It is only occasionally heard in northern Germany.

See also

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”).

Alternative forms

  • hammar (Nynorsk also)

Noun

hammer m ‎(definite singular hammeren, indefinite plural hammere or hamrer, definite plural hammerne or hamrene)

  1. a hammer (tool)

Related terms

References

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”). Compare English hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer.

Noun

hammer

  1. hammer

Etymology

From Middle English hamer, Old English hamor, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). The Germanic *hamaraz "tool with a stone head" derives from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros (compare Sanskrit अश्मरी ‎(aśmarī, “strangury”)), itself a derivation from *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”).

For *h₂éḱmō ‎(“stone”), compare Lithuanian akmuõ, Russian камень ‎(kamenʹ), Serbo-Croatian kamēn, Albanian kmesë ‎(“sickle”), Ancient Greek ἄκμων ‎(ákmōn, “meteor rock, anvil”), Avestan 𐬥𐬀𐬨𐬯𐬀 ‎(asman), Sanskrit अश्मन् ‎(aśman)) (root *h₂eḱ- ‎(“sharp”)).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
  • Rhymes: -æmə(r)
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈhæmɚ/

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