Hammer

English Meaning

An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like, consisting of a head, usually of steel or iron, fixed crosswise to a handle.

1. A hand tool consisting of a handle with a head of metal or other heavy rigid material that is attached at a right angle, used for striking or pounding.
2. A tool or device similar in function or action to this striking tool, as:
3. The part of a gunlock that hits the primer or firing pin or explodes the percussion cap and causes the gun to fire.
4. Music One of the padded wooden pieces of a piano that strikes the strings.
5. A part of an apparatus that strikes a gong or bell, as in a clock.
6. Anatomy See malleus.
7. Sports A metal ball weighing 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms) and having a long wire or wooden handle by which it is thrown for distance in track-and-field competition.
8. A small mallet used by auctioneers.
9. To hit, especially repeatedly, with or as if with a hammer; pound. See Synonyms at beat.
10. To beat into a shape with or as if with a hammer: hammered out the dents in the fender; hammered out a contract acceptable to both sides.
11. To put together, fasten, or seal, particularly with nails, by hammering.
12. To force upon by constant repetition: hammered the information into the students' heads.
13. To defeat soundly.
14. To inflict a heavy loss or damage on.
15. To deal repeated blows with or as if with a hammer; pummel: "Wind hammered at us violently in gusts” ( Thor Heyerdahl).
16. To undergo beating in the manner of a hammer: My pulse hammered.
17. Informal To keep at something continuously: hammered away at the problem.
18. under the hammer For sale at an auction.