hammer
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stonen head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). This is traditionally ascribed to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”), but see *hamaraz for further discussion.
(declare a defaulter on the stock exchange): Originally signalled by knocking with a wooden mallet.
PronunciationEdit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
- Rhymes: -æmə(ɹ)
Audio (UK) (file) - (US) IPA(key): /ˈhæm.ɚ/
Audio (US) (file)
NounEdit
hammer (plural hammers)
- A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together
- The act of using a hammer to hit something.
- The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.
- (firearms) A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
- 2023 March 27, Helen Lewis, “How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- 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.
- (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
- (music) 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
- (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
- (curling) The last stone in an end.
- (frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
- Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
- One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
- St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
- 1849, John Henry Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations
- He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.
- (journalism) Ellipsis of hammer headline.
- 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing (page 104)
- Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.
- 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing (page 104)
- (motor racing) The accelerator pedal.
- 1975, C.W. McCall and Chip Davis (lyrics), “Convoy”, in Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall:
- 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."
Derived termsEdit
- air hammer
- atmospheric hammer
- ball peen hammer
- ball-peen hammer
- ball-pein hammer
- ban hammer
- between the hammer and the anvil
- bott hammer
- brick hammer
- bring down the hammer
- bring to the hammer
- bush hammer
- claw hammer
- claw-hammer coat
- cross peen hammer
- dead-stroke hammer
- drop hammer
- forge-hammer
- hammer and anvil
- hammer and sickle
- hammer and tongs
- hammer away
- hammer beam
- hammer bench
- hammer blast
- hammer blow, hammerblow
- hammer break
- hammer dulcimer
- hammer fist
- hammer price
- hammer throw
- hammer thrower
- hammer toe
- hammer-dressed
- hammer-harden
- hammer-headed
- hammer-on
- hammerhead
- Lucerne hammer
- lump hammer
- Maslow's hammer
- meteor hammer
- monkey hammer
- nail the hammer on the head
- patent hammer
- percussion hammer
- pick hammer
- put the hammer down
- reflex hammer
- shoe hammer
- sledgehammer
- spring hammer
- steam hammer
- steam hammer
- stone hammer
- stonemason's hammer
- straight peen hammer
- Thor's hammer
- tilt hammer
- toffee hammer
- trip hammer
- tuning hammer
- under the hammer
- up to the hammer
- war hammer
- Warrington hammer
- water hammer
- wrench hammer
- yellow hammer
- yellow-hammer
TranslationsEdit
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See alsoEdit
VerbEdit
hammer (third-person singular simple present hammers, present participle hammering, simple past and past participle hammered)
- To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
- Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 198:
- 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.
- To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
- 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- hammered money
- (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
- (sports, etc.) To hit particularly hard.
- 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, in BBC[2]:
- 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.
- 2023 January 25, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944-December 28 2022”, in RAIL, number 975, page 47:
- "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."
- (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.
- (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
- I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.
- (transitive, slang, figuratively, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly
- We hammered them 5-0!
- (transitive, slang, computing) To make high demands on (a system or service).
- 1995, Optimizing Windows NT (volume 4, page 226)
- 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, […]
- 1995, Optimizing Windows NT (volume 4, page 226)
- (transitive, finance) To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
- (transitive, finance) To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
- (sex, transitive, colloquial) To have hard sex with.
- Synonym: pound
- Danielle hammered Mary til she came.
Derived termsEdit
- hammer home
- hammer out
- hammered (adjective)
- hammerer
- sledgehammer (verb)
- the nail that sticks out gets hammered down
TranslationsEdit
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See alsoEdit
DanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
hammer c (singular definite hammeren, plural indefinite hammere or hamre)
InflectionEdit
GermanEdit
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
hammer
- (colloquial, regional) Contraction of haben wir.
- Da hammer jetz' keine Zeit für.
- We don't have time for that now.
Usage notesEdit
This contraction is common throughout central Germany, southern Germany, and Austria. It is only occasionally heard in northern Germany.
See alsoEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
NounEdit
hammer
- Alternative form of hamer
Norwegian BokmålEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).
Alternative formsEdit
NounEdit
hammer m (definite singular hammeren, indefinite plural hammere or hamrer, definite plural hammerne or hamrene)
- a hammer (tool)
Related termsEdit
- hamre (verb)
Etymology 2Edit
NounEdit
hammer m
- indefinite plural of ham
ReferencesEdit
- “hammer” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
Unadapted borrowing from English hammer.
NounEdit
hammer m (plural hammers)
- (ultimate frisbee) hammer
West FrisianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Frisian hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).
NounEdit
hammer c (plural hammers, diminutive hammerke)
Further readingEdit
- “hammer”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011