hammerhead

Noun

hammerhead (plural hammerheads)

1. The portion of a hammer containing the metal striking face (also including the claw or peen if so equipped).
   • Holonym: hammer
   • Meronym: hammer face
2. Any shark of the family Sphyrnidae, which only includes the genera Sphyrna and Zygaena, with eyes set on projections from the sides of the head.

   Synonyms:

   hammerhead shark, hammer fish, balance fish

3. A hogsucker, a fresh-water fish of species Hypentelium nigricans, in the sucker family Catostomidae.
4. A hammer-headed fruit bat, a fruit bat of species Hypsignathus monstrosus, with a large blunt nozzle.
5. A hammerkop, a bird of species Scopus umbretta.
6. (slang) A stupid person, a dunce.
   • [The butler] joined us with a telegram for Bobbie on a salver. From her mother, I presumed, calling me some name which she had forgotten to insert in previous communications. Or, of course, possibly expressing once more her conviction that I was a guffin, which, I thought, having had time to ponder...1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing
7. A turn-around; a parking area constructed in a subdivision for initial access and construction.
8. A kind of ribozyme; hammerhead ribozyme.