hammer

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.

noun

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
2. The act of using a hammer to hit something.
   The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.
3. (firearms) A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
   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. 2023-03-27, Helen Lewis, “How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?”, in The Atlantic
4. (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
5. (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
6. (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
7. (curling) The last stone in an end.
8. (frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
9. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
10. 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. 1849, John Henry Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations
11. (journalism) Ellipsis 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. 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing, page 104
12. (motor racing) 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." 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall

verb

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.
2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
3. (figurative) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
4. (sports, etc.) 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. December 28, 2010, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, in BBC
   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. January 25 2023, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944-December 28 2022”, in RAIL, number 975, page 47
5. (cycling, intransitive, slang) To ride very fast.
   Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, I hammered into Obterre. 2011, Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France, page 58
   Running at line-speed, well over 100mph, it hammers through Doncaster on its way south to London. December 18 2019, Richard Clinnick, “Traction transition: HST to Azuma”, in Rail, page 32
6. (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
   I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.
7. (transitive, slang, figurative, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly
   We hammered them 5-0!
8. (transitive, slang, computing) To 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, […] 1995, Optimizing Windows NT, volume 4, page 226
9. (transitive, finance) To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
10. (transitive, finance) To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
11. (sex, transitive, colloquial) To have hard sex with.
    Danielle hammered Mary til she came.
    A short time later I’ve got Lissie in bed. I’m really going after it, really hammering her. 2012, John Locke, Wish List (Donovan Creed), John Locke Books, page 19