hammer

English Online Dictionary. What means hammer‎? What does hammer mean?

English

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.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

hammer (plural hammers)

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

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

4. (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
6. (music) In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.

7. (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
8. (curling) The last stone in an end.
9. (frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
10. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
11. One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
12. (journalism) Ellipsis of hammer headline.
13. (motor racing) The accelerator pedal.
15. (firearms) A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
16. (African-American Vernacular, slang, loosely) A handgun.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• mallet

Verb

hammer (third-person singular simple present hammers, present participle hammering, simple past and past participle hammered)

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.
3. (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
4. (sports, etc.) To hit particularly hard.
5. (cycling, intransitive, slang) To ride very fast.
6. (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.

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

8. (transitive, slang, computing) To make high demands on (a system or service).
9. (transitive, finance) To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
10. (transitive, finance) To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
11. (sex, transitive, colloquial) To have hard sex with.

    Synonyms: pound, smash

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

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

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hamər/, [ˈhɑmɐ]

Noun

hammer c (singular definite hammeren, plural indefinite hammere or hamre)

1. hammer

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

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

Verb

hammer

1. (colloquial, regional) Contraction of haben wir.

Usage notes

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

See also

• simmer

Middle English

Noun

hammer

1. Alternative form of hamer

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros, from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).

Alternative forms

• hammar

Noun

hammer m (definite singular hammeren, indefinite plural hammere or hamrer, definite plural hammerne or hamrene)

1. a hammer (tool)

Related terms

• hamre (verb)

Etymology 2

Noun

hammer m

1. indefinite plural of ham

References

• “hammer” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Portuguese

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English hammer.

Noun

hammer m (plural hammers)

1. (ultimate frisbee) hammer

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian hamar, from Proto-West Germanic *hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

hammer c (plural hammers, diminutive hammerke)

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

References

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