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Hammer   /hˈæmər/   Listen
noun
Hammer  n.  
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."
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."
3.
(Athletics) A spherical weight attached to a flexible handle and hurled from a mark or ring. The weight of head and handle is usually not less than 16 pounds.
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.


verb
Hammer  v. t.  (past & past part. hammered; pres. part. 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."
3.
To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; usually with out. "Who was hammering out a penny dialogue."


Hammer  v. i.  
1.
To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer. "Whereon this month I have been hammering."
2.
To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively. "Blood and revenge are hammering in my head."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Hammer" Quotes from Famous Books



... you here, I can't understand it," he said. "But I get thinking—I get thinking, and my heart begins to hammer, and I lie awake nights, and I'd like to get up and ...
— The Story Of Julia Page - Works of Kathleen Norris, Volume V. • Kathleen Norris
... expression of the same sturdy independence which to this day distinguishes the descendants of the Northmen. Indeed nothing could be more characteristic of the Scandinavian mythology, than that it had a god with a hammer. A man's character is seen in small matters; and from even so slight a test as the mode in which a man wields a hammer, his energy may in some measure be inferred. Thus an eminent Frenchman hit off in a single phrase the characteristic quality of the inhabitants of a particular district, ...
— Self Help • Samuel Smiles
... dream!" asked the smith eagerly, grasping the handle of his heavy hammer firmly, and setting his ...
— The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2) • Henry William Herbert
... Mr. Stockden was all payd for his wood 40s. I gave the scholemaster Mr. Lee 5s. in part of wagis: he browght me my hammer from Mr. Jak, so he hath a quarter's wagis 10s. July 8th, I receyved Sir Edward Kelly his letters, dated at Prage the 24th of May stylo novo. No mention is made of his brother Mr. Thomas Kelly coming over. ...
— The Private Diary of Dr. John Dee - And the Catalog of His Library of Manuscripts • John Dee
... too," added Charlie. "I mean you can pull the trigger and the hammer will snap down. Course we only ...
— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue in the Big Woods • Laura Lee Hope


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