Hit

Pronunciation

• enPR: hÄ­t, IPA: /hɪt/
• Rhymes: -ɪt

From Middle English hitten ("to hit, strike, make contact with"), from Old English hittan ("to meet with, come upon, fall in with"), probably of origin, from Old Norse hitta ("to strike, meet"), from Proto-Germanic *hitjaną ("to come upon, find"), from Proto-Indo-European *k(')eid- ("to fall, fall upon"). Cognate with Icelandic hitta ("to meet"), Danish hitte ("to find"), Latin caedō ("fall"), Albanian qit ("to hit, throw, pull out, release").

Full definition of hit

Verb

1. (transitive) To administer a blow to.One boy hit the other.
• 1922-1927, Frank Harris, My Life and LovesHe tried to hit me but I dodged the blow and went out to plot revenge.
• Joyce Ulysses Episode 15BELLO: (Shouts) Good, by the rumping jumping general! That's the best bit of news I heard these six weeks. Here, don't keep me waiting, damn you! (He slaps her face)BLOOM: (Whimpers) You're after hitting me. I'll tell ...
• 1934, Robert E. Howard, The Slugger's GameI hunted him for half a hour, aiming to learn him to hit a man with a table-leg and then run, but I didn't find him.
2. (transitive) To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.The ball hit the fence.
• Swift Gulliver|II|Va dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face.
• John LockeIf bodies be extension alone, how can they move and hit one against another?
• 1882, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Doctor Grimshawe's Secret: A romanceMeanwhile the street boys kept up a shower of mud balls, many of which hit the Doctor, while the rest were distributed upon his assailants.
3. (transitive, colloquial) To briefly visit.We hit the grocery store on the way to the park.
4. (transitive, informal) To encounter.We hit a lot of traffic coming back from the movies.You'll hit some nasty thunderstorms if you descend too late.
5. (transitive, informal) To reach or achieve.We hit Detroit at one in the morning but kept driving through the night.The temperature could hit 110° F tomorrow.The movie hits theaters in December.I hit the jackpot.
• 2012, August 1. Owen Gibson in Guardian Unlimited, London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medalAnd her success with Glover, a product of the National Lottery-funded Sporting Giants talent identification programme, will also spark relief among British officials who were starting to fret a little about hitting their target of equalling fourth in the medal table from Beijing.
6. (intransitive) To meet or reach what was aimed at or desired; to succeed, often by luck.
• ShakespeareAnd oft it hits
  Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
• Jonathan SwiftMillions miss for one that hits.
7. (transitive) To affect negatively.The economy was hit by a recession.The hurricane hit his fishing business hard.
8. (transitive, slang) To kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party.Hit him tonight and throw the body in the river.
9. (transitive, cards) In blackjack, to deal a card to. Hit me.
10. (intransitive, baseball) To come up to bat.Jones hit for the pitcher.
11. (transitive, computing, programming) To use; to connect to.The external web servers hit DBSRV7, but the internal web server hits DBSRV3.
12. (transitive, US, slang) To have sex with.I'd hit that.
13. (transitive, US, slang) To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuanaI hit that bong every night after work
14. To guess; to light upon or discover.
• ShakespeareThou hast hit it.
15. (backgammon) To take up, or replace by a piece belonging to the opposing player; said of a single unprotected piece on a point.

Antonyms

• (manage to touch in the right place) miss

Derived terms

Noun

1. A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
• DrydenSo he the famed Cilician fencer praised,
  And, at each hit, with wonder seems amazed.
2. The hit was very slight.
3. A success, especially in the entertainment industry.The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.
• Alexander PopeWhat late he called a blessing, now was wit,
  And God's good providence, a lucky hit.
• 2012, February 9, Tasha Robinson, Film: Review: Chico & Rita, Chico & Rita opens in the modern era, as an aged, weary Chico shines shoes in his native Cuba. Then a song heard on the radio—a hit he wrote and recorded with Rita in their youth—carries him back to 1948 Havana, where they first met.
4. An attack on a location, person or people.
1. In the game of Battleship (game), a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
5. (computing, Internet) The result(s) of a search of a computer system or, for example, the entire Internet using a search engine
6. (Internet) A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine.
7. An approximately correct answer in a test set.
8. (baseball) The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice.The catcher got a hit to lead off the fifth.
9. (colloquial) A dose of an illegal or addictive drug.Where am I going to get my next hit?
10. A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.
11. (dated) A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark.a happy hit
12. A game won at backgammon after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.

Antonyms

• (a punch) miss
• (success) flop, turkey

Derived terms

From Middle English hit ("it"), from Old English hit ("it"), from Proto-Germanic *hit ("this, this one"), from Proto-Indo-European *k'e-, *k'ey- ("this, here"). Cognate with Dutch het ("it"). More at it. Note 'it.

Pronoun

1. (dialectal) it.
• 1922, Philip Gengembre Hubert, The Atlantic monthly, Volume 130:But how hit was to come about didn't appear.
• 1998, Nancy A. Walker, What's so funny?: humor in American culture:Now, George, grease it good, an' let hit slide down the hill hits own way.

Derived terms

• hits
• hitself

Anagrams

• iht, ith