English

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To come to a difficult agreement after much arguing and conflict.

   Two years after the flood, my lawyer managed to hammer out a settlement with my insurance company over the damages.

   • 2012 December 21, David M. Halbfinger, Charles V. Bagli and Sarah Maslin Nir, “On Ravaged Coastline, It’s Rebuild Deliberately vs. Rebuild Now”, in New York Times:

     In New York City, property owners seeking to rebound from the storm will have to feel their way through a wilderness of new flood maps, revamped building codes and land-use ordinances, along with a host of other measures addressing the specific needs of storm-battered communities — all of which have yet to be hammered out and adopted.