hammer
/ˈhæmə/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈhamə/
hammer noun: a tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding. Also the ellipsis of hammer headline.
Noun (1)
hammer (plural hammers)
- A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together.
- Men shove statues off pedestals, and use hammers and drills to destroy what’s left.2015 February 26, Ben Wedeman, Dana Ford, “Video shows ISIS militants destroying antiquities in Iraq”, in CNN, archived from the original on 01 Feb 2023
- The act of using a hammer to hit something.
- The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.
- 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.
- The sound the piano makes comes from the hammers striking the strings
- 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 throw in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown forwards above the head.
- Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
- One who, or that which, smites or shatters.
- St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
- He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.1849, John Henry Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations
- The accelerator pedal.
- 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 the hammer down."1975, “Convoy”, in C.W. McCall, Chip Davis (lyrics), Black Bear Road, performed by C. W. McCall
- We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh
- A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
- But the Englishman was close to him—so close that his hand reached the leveled barrel a fraction of a second before the hammer fell upon the cartridge, and the bullet that was intended for Tarzan’s heart whirred harmlessly above his head.1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 219
- Nonstop hammer cock, violent mannered shots land a lot2016, Doseone, “Enter the Gungeon”, in Enter the Gungeon OST
- A handgun.
- Another one of my peoples came to me with a plan. "Yo, man, I need to get some money. I need to borrow that hammer." So I gave him my nickel-plated .357 with a wooden handle, and off he went to stand by the weed spot.2018, U-God [Lamont Hawkins], Raw: My Journey Into The Wu-Tang, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 119
Verb
hammer (third-person singular simple present hammers, present participle hammering, simple past and past participle hammered)
- To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
- Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.
- Fresleven - that was the fellow’s name, a Dane - thought himself wronged somehow in the bargain, so he went ashore and started to hammer the chief of the village with a stick.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 198
- To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
- hammered money1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
- To emphasize a point repeatedly.
- To hit particularly hard.
- This time the defender was teed up by Andrew Johnson's short free-kick on the edge of the box and Baird hammered 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.2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, in BBC
- "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 absolutely hammering the keyboard."2023 January 25, Howard Johnston, “Peter Kelly: August 2 1944-December 28 2022”, in RAIL, number 975, page 47
- To ride very fast.
- Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, I hammered into Obterre.2011, Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France, page 58
- Running at line-speed, well over 100mph, it hammers through Doncaster on its way south to London.2019 December 18, Richard Clinnick, “Traction transition: HST to Azuma”, in Rail, page 32
- To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.
- I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.
- To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly.
- We hammered them 5-0!
- To make high demands on (a system or service).
- So we'll be hammering 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, […]1995, Optimizing Windows NT, volume 4, page 226
- To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
- To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
- To have hard sex with.
- A short time later I’ve got Lissie in bed. I’m really going after it, really hammering her.2012, John Locke, Wish List (Donovan Creed), John Locke Books, →ISBN, page 19
- To overcook (something).
Noun (2) capitalized: Hammer
Hammer (plural Hammers)
Proper noun capitalized: Hammer
Hammer
- A surname.
Also used as
hammer is also the ellipsis of hammer headline.
hammer meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hammer in Hindi
- tool
- हथौड़ा hathauṛā
hammer in Tamil
- tool
- சுத்தியல் cuttiyal
hammer in Marathi
- tool
- हातोडा hātoḍā
hammer in Urdu
- tool
- ہتوڑا hathauṛā
More languagesFewer languages
- hammer in Bengali
- হাতুড়ি hatuṛi
- hammer in Telugu
- సుత్తి sutti
- hammer in Malayalam
- ചുറ്റിക cuṟṟika
- hammer in Kannada
- ಬಡಿಗೆ baḍige, ಸುತ್ತಿಗೆ suttige
- hammer in Punjabi
- ਹਥੌੜਾ hathauṛā
- hammer in Gujarati
- હથોડો hathoḍo
- hammer in Odia
- ହାତୁଡ଼ି
- hammer in Sanskrit
- मुद्गर mudgara
- hammer in Sinhala
- මිටිය miṭiya
- hammer in Assamese
- হাতুৰী haturi
- hammer in Nepali
- हथौडा hathauḍā, ठोक्नु ṭhoknu
- hammer in Pashto
- سوټک soṭak, څوټک śoṭak, څټک śaṭak, سټک saṭak
- hammer in Tagalog
- martilyo, pamukpok, binalalak
- hammer in Arabic
- مِطْرَقَة miṭraqa, شَاكُوش šākūš, قَدوم 'adūm, مطرقة mṭarqa
- hammer in Malay
- tukul, palu, penukul, martil
- hammer in Indonesian
- palu
- hammer in Persian
- چکش čakoš
- hammer in Thai
- ค้อน kɔ́ɔn, พะเนิน pá-nəən, ตอก dtɔ̀ɔk
- hammer in Vietnamese
- búa, cò
- hammer in Myanmar
- တူ tu
- Dhivehi
- މަރުތެޔޮ maruteyo
- Dzongkha
- ཐོཝ thow
Examples of hammer in a sentence
- Hammers are for knocking nails in, not for smashing my windows!
- Pressing a piano key causes the action of the hammer on the string.
- Hammer in that nail —What with? I didn't bring my set of tools.
Synonyms of hammer
Forms of hammer
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | hammers |
| plural | Hammers |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | hammers |
| present participle | hammering |
| past participle | hammered |
| past | hammered |
Origin of hammer
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.
Shortened West Ham + -er, with a pun on hammer.
Words formed from hammer
- Abinger Hammer
- adze-eye hammer
- air hammer
- atmospheric hammer
- ball-peen hammer
- ball peen hammer
- ball-pein hammer
- ban hammer
- between the hammer and the anvil
- bott hammer
- brick hammer
- bring down the hammer
- bring to the hammer
- bush hammer
- claw hammer
- claw-hammer coat
- club hammer
- coal hammer
- crack hammer
- cross peen hammer
- dead-stroke hammer
- drilling hammer
- drop hammer
- drop the hammer
- emergency hammer
- forehammer
- forge-hammer
- framing hammer
- golden hammer
- goldhammer
- greathammer
- hammer and anvil
- hammer and sickle
- hammer and tongs
- hammer away
- hammer beam
- hammer bench
- hammer blast
- hammer blow
- hammerblow
- hammer break
- hammer-dressed
- hammer-dressing
- hammer drill
- hammer dulcimer
- hammer face
- hammerfish
- hammer fist
- hammer-harden
- hammerhead
- hammer-headed
- hammerless
- hammerlike
- hammerlock
- hammerman
- hammermill
- hammer-on
- hammer pond
- hammer price
- hammerscale
Phrases with hammer
- hammer up
- hammer toe
- war hammer
- hammer home
- hammer toes
- life hammer
- lump hammer
- pick hammer
- pole hammer
- shoe hammer
- tilt hammer
- trip hammer
75 more phrasesFewer phrases
- hammer beams
- hammer blows
- hammer faces
- hammer fists
- Hammer pants
- hammer throw
- power hammer
- steak hammer
- steam hammer
- stone hammer
- water hammer
- hammer blasts
- hammer breaks
- hammer drills
- hammer prices
- hammer throws
- meteor hammer
- monkey hammer
- patent hammer
- reflex hammer
- safety hammer
- sledge hammer
- spring hammer
- Thor's hammer
- toffee hammer
- tuning hammer
- wrench hammer
- yellow hammer
- hammer benches
- hammer thrower
- Lucerne hammer
- hammer headline
- hammer throwers
- Maslow's hammer
- snowball hammer
- snowshoe hammer
- Yosemite hammer
- drops the hammer
- hammer beam roof
- hammer dulcimers
- hammer headlines
- under the hammer
- up to the hammer
- hammer beam truss
- Hammer projection
- percussion hammer
- sickle and hammer
- Warrington hammer
- dropped the hammer
- Hammer projections
- dropping the hammer
- lay the hammer down
- put the hammer down
- stonemason's hammer
- brings to the hammer
- claw hammer coupling
- knight of the hammer
- laid the hammer down
- lays the hammer down
- puts the hammer down
- straight peen hammer
- brought to the hammer
- claw hammer couplings
- knights of the hammer
- bringing to the hammer
- brings down the hammer
- laying the hammer down
- brought down the hammer
- putting the hammer down
- bringing down the hammer
- how's your hammer hanging
- nail the hammer on the head
- nails the hammer on the head
- nailed the hammer on the head
- nailing the hammer on the head
Words that rhyme with hammer
Questions about hammer
- What does hammer mean?
- Hammer means a tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.
- What is hammer in Hindi?
- Hammer in Hindi is हथौड़ा (hathauṛā). See Hammer meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is hammer?
- Hammer can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hammer?
- Hammer is pronounced /ˈhæmə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of hammer?
- The plural of hammer is hammers.
Words near hammer in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hammer (page history and authors); Hammer (page history and authors); hammer (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-hammer.ogg, en-us-hammer.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hammer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hammer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.