hammer

noun

1. 1

   A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.

   Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together.

   Men shove statues off pedestals, and use hammers and drills to destroy what’s left.

2. 2

   The act of using a hammer to hit something.

   The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.

3. 3

   The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.

4. 4

   In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.

   The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings

5. 5

   A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.

6. 6

   The last stone in an end.

7. 7

   A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.

8. 8

   Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.

9. 9

   One who, or that which, smites or shatters.

   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.

10. 10

    The accelerator pedal.

    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."

11. 11

    A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.

    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.

    Nonstop hammer cock, violent mannered shots land a lot

    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.

12. 12

    slangA handgun.

    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.

13. 13

    Variant of hammer headlineEllipsis of hammer headline.

    Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.

verb

1. 1

   To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.

   Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.

   Fresleven - that was the fellow’s name, a Dane - thought himself wronged somehow in the bargain, so he went ashore and started to hammer the chief of the village with a stick.

2. 2

   To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.

   hammered money

3. 3

   figurativeTo emphasize a point repeatedly.

4. 4

   To hit particularly hard.

   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.

   "My memory of him in the office at Peterborough was the ferocious nature of his typing, on a manual machine of course. This was long before the days of desktop publishing, and you could hear him down the corridor absolutely hammering the keyboard."

5. 5

   slangTo ride very fast.

   Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, I hammered into Obterre.

   Running at line-speed, well over 100mph, it hammers through Doncaster on its way south to London.

6. 6

   To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.

   I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.

7. 7

   figurativeTo defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly.

   We hammered them 5-0!

8. 8

   slangTo make high demands on (a system or service).

   So we'll be hammering the server in an unrealistic manner, but we'll see how the additional clients affect overall performance. We'll add two, three, four, and then five clients, […]

9. 9

   To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.

10. 10

    To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).

11. 11

    To have hard sex with.

    A short time later I’ve got Lissie in bed. I’m really going after it, really hammering her.

12. 12

    To overcook (something).

Forms

plural

hammers

past tense

hammered

past participle

hammered

present participle

hammering

third person singular

hammers