hammer
Meaning
-
- A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- The act of using a hammer to hit something.
- The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
- In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.
- A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
- The last stone in an end.
- A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
- Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
- One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
- Ellipsis of hammer headline.
- The accelerator pedal.
- A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
- (slang) A handgun.
Synonyms
power hammer
blacksmith’s hammer
iron club
drive a nail
steam drop hammer
hit with something
cocking piece
knock at a door
counterblow hammer
forging hammer
forge hammer
shingling hammer
counter-blow hammer
wood maul
beat in
drop hammer
Frequency
Pronounced as (IPA)
/ˈhæm.ə(ɹ)/
Etymology
In summary
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.
Related words
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Notes