FromMiddle Englishhamer, fromOld Englishhamor, fromProto-West Germanic*hamar, fromProto-Germanic*hamaraz(“tool with a stone head”) (compareWest Frisianhammer,Low GermanHamer,Dutchhamer,GermanHammer,Danishhammer,Swedishhammare). This is traditionally ascribed toProto-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.

• (UK)IPA^(key):/ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes:-æmə(ɹ)

• Audio(UK):

  (file)

• (US)IPA^(key):/ˈhæm.ɚ/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

hammer (pluralhammers)

2. Atool with a heavyhead and ahandle used forpounding.

   Bobby used ahammer and nails to fix the two planks together

3. The act of using a hammer to hit something.

   The nail is too loose—give it ahammer.

4. (anatomy) Themalleus, a small bone of themiddle ear.
6. (music) In apiano ordulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.

   The sound the piano makes comes from thehammers striking the strings

7. (sports) A device made of aheavy steelball attached to a length ofwire, and used forthrowing.
8. (curling) The laststone in anend.
9. (frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with aforehand grip and thrown above the head.
10. Part of aclock that strikes upon abell to indicate thehour.
11. One who, or that which,smites orshatters.

    St. Augustine was thehammer of heresies.

    • 1849,John Henry Newman,Discourses to Mixed Congregations:

      He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been themassive ironhammers of the whole earth.

12. (journalism)Ellipsis ofhammer headline.
    • 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, Edward C. Nicholls, Douglas A. Anderson,Electronic Age News Editing, page104:

      Hammers are, in essence, reversekickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers,hammers are set in larger type than headlines.

13. (motor racing) Theaccelerator pedal.
    • 1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics),Black Bear Road, performed byC. W. McCall:

      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 thehammer down."

15. (firearms) A moving part of afirearm that strikes thefiring pin to discharge a gun.
    • 2016,Doseone, “Enter the Gungeon”, inEnter the Gungeon OST:

      Nonstophammer cock, violent mannered shots land a lot

    • 2023 March 27, Helen Lewis, “How Did America’s Weirdest, Most Freedom-Obsessed State Fall for an Authoritarian Governor?”, inThe Atlantic‎^[1]:

      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 thehammer.

16. (African-American Vernacular,slang,loosely) Ahandgun.
    • 2018,U-God [Lamont Hawkins],Raw: My Journey Into The Wu-Tang, New York, N.Y.:Picador,→ISBN,→OCLC,page119:

      Another one of my peoples came to me with a plan. "Yo, man, I need to get some money. I need to borrow thathammer." So I gave him my nickel-plated .357 with a wooden handle, and off he went to stand by the weed spot.

• mallet

hammer (third-person singular simple presenthammers,present participlehammering,simple past and past participlehammered)

1. Tostrikerepeatedly with ahammer, some otherimplement, thefist, etc.

   Tonyhammered on the door to try to get him to open.

   • 1899 February,Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, inBlackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […],→OCLC, part I,page198:

     Fresleven - that was the fellow’s name, a Dane - thought himself wronged somehow in the bargain, so he went ashore and started tohammer the chief of the village with a stick.

   • 2023 October 14, HarryBlank, “Face Time”, inSCP Foundation‎^[2], archived fromthe original on23 May 2024:

     "He's been waiting to jump my brain-bones since I left R&E. I could feel himhammering on the door." She trotted to the nearest wall and knocked on it for emphasis. "But whatever it is that makes us remember the good old days, it also makes us impossible to possess now. That's why Willie and I both woke up, and why Noè never got taken out by Mukami. So all I had to do was open my mind up to the guy, invite him in, then... gas the foyer, as it were."

2. Toform orforge with ahammer; toshape bybeating.
   • 1697,Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, inJohn Dryden, transl.,The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London:[…]Jacob Tonson, […],→OCLC:

     hammered money

3. (figuratively) Toemphasize apointrepeatedly.
4. (sports, etc.) Tohit particularlyhard.
   • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, inBBC‎^[3]:

     This time the defender was teed up by Andrew Johnson's short free-kick on the edge of the box and Bairdhammered 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.

   • 2023 January 25, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly:August 2 1944-December 28 2022”, inRAIL, number975, page47:

     "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 absolutelyhammering the keyboard."

5. (cycling,intransitive,slang) Toride veryfast.
   • 2011, Tim Moore,French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France, page58:

     Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, Ihammered into Obterre.

   • 2019 December 18, Richard Clinnick, “Traction transition: HST to Azuma”, inRail, page32:

     Running at line-speed, well over 100mph, ithammers throughDoncaster on its way south toLondon.

6. (intransitive) Tostrikeinternally, as ifhit by ahammer.

   I could hear the engine’s valveshammering once the timing rod was thrown.

7. (transitive,slang,figuratively,sports) Todefeat (a person, a team)resoundingly.

   Wehammered them 5-0!

8. (transitive,slang,computing) To makehighdemands on (asystem orservice).
   • 1995,Optimizing Windows NT, volume 4, page226:

     So we'll behammering 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,[…]

9. (transitive,finance) Todeclare (a person) adefaulter on thestock exchange.
10. (transitive,finance) Tobeat down theprice of (astock), ordepress (amarket).
11. (sex,transitive,colloquial) Tohavehardsex with.

    Synonyms:pound,smash

    • 2012, John Locke,Wish List (Donovan Creed), John Locke Books,→ISBN,page19:

      A short time later I’ve got Lissie in bed. I’m really going after it, reallyhammering her.

• “hammer n.¹”, inGreen’s Dictionary of Slang,Jonathon Green, 2016–present

FromOld Norsehamarr, fromProto-Germanic*hamaraz, fromProto-Indo-European*h₂eḱmoros, from*h₂éḱmō(“stone”).

• IPA^(key):/hamər/,[ˈhɑmɐ]

hammer c (singular definitehammeren,plural indefinitehammereorhamre)

1. hammer

• IPA^(key):/ˈhamɐ/
• Homophone:Hammer

hammer

1. (colloquial,regional)Contraction ofhabenwir.

   Dahammer jetz' keine Zeit für.

   We don't have time for that now.

This contraction is common throughout central Germany, southern Germany, and Austria. It is only occasionally heard in northern Germany.

• simmer

hammer

1. Alternative form ofhamer

FromOld Norsehamarr, fromProto-Germanic*hamaraz, fromProto-Indo-European*h₂eḱmoros, from*h₂éḱmō(“stone”).

• hammar

hammer m (definite singularhammeren,indefinite pluralhammereorhamrer,definite pluralhammerneorhamrene)

1. ahammer(tool)

• hamre(verb)

hammer m

1. indefiniteplural ofham

• “hammer” inThe Bokmål Dictionary.

Unadapted borrowing fromEnglishhammer.

hammer m (pluralhammers)

1. (frisbee)hammer

FromOld Frisianhamar, fromProto-West Germanic*hamar, fromProto-Germanic*hamaraz.

• IPA^(key):/ˈha.mər/
• Rhymes:-amər
• Hyphenation:ham‧mer

hammer c (pluralhammers,diminutivehammerke)

1. hammer(tool, consisting of a piece of wood or iron, which is used for hitting or knocking)

   Ik sloech mei dehammer op 'e finger

   I hit the finger with thehammer

• “hammer”, inWurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch),2011