Hammer

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈhæm.É™(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -æmÉ™(r)
• US IPA: /ˈhæmÉš/

Origin

From Middle English hamer, Old English hamor, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare).

The Germanic *hamaraz "tool with a stone head" derives from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros (compare Sanskrit (aśmará, "stony")), itself a derivation from *h₂éḱmō ("stone").

For *h₂éḱmō ("stone"), compare Lithuanian akmuõ, Russian камень, Serbo-Croatian kamēn, Albanian kmesë 'sickle', Ancient Greek ἄκμων (akmōn, "meteor rock, anvil"), Avestan (asman), Sanskrit अश्मन्) (root *h₂eḱ- ("sharp")).

Full definition of hammer

Noun

1. A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
2. A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
3. (anatomy) The malleus of the ear.
4. (music) In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
5. (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
6. (curling) The last rock in an end.
7. (Ultimate Frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
8. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
9. One who, or that which, smites or shatters.St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
• J. H. NewmanHe met the stern legionaries Rome who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.

Derived terms

Verb

1. To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
• Drydenhammered money
3. (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
4. (sports) To hit particularly hard.
• 2010, December 28, Marc Vesty, Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham, 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.
5. To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.
6. (figuratively, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundinglyWe hammered them 5-0!

Derived terms