hammer

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the act of pounding, particularly delivering repeated heavy blows

   The sudden hammer of fists caught them off guard.

2. 2
   noun

   a heavy metal sphere attached to a flexible wire

   used in the hammer throw

3. 3
   verb

   beat with or as if with a hammer

   hammer the metal flat

4. 4
   verb

   create by hammering

   hammer the silver into a bowl

5. 5
   noun

   A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.

   Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together.

6. 6
   noun

   The act of using a hammer to hit something.

   The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.

7. 7
   noun

   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

8. 8
   noun

   One who, or that which, smites or shatters.

   St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.

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.