hammer
/ˈhæmə/
Meaning
A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
To make high demands on (a system or service).
The accelerator pedal.
A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
To hit particularly hard.
To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
The act of using a hammer to hit something.
To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
To have hard sex with.
A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
A handgun.
To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
To ride very fast.
A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
To emphasize a point repeatedly.
To overcook (something).
The last stone in an end.
Ellipsis of hammer headline.
To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly.
To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
To make high demands on (a system or service).
The accelerator pedal.
A frisbee throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
To hit particularly hard.
To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
The act of using a hammer to hit something.
To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
To have hard sex with.
A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
A handgun.
To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
To ride very fast.
A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
To emphasize a point repeatedly.
To overcook (something).
The last stone in an end.
Ellipsis of hammer headline.
To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly.
To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
Examples
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.
The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.
The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings
St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
Word Forms
hammers
hammering
hammered
Etymology
From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone 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.