hammering out

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To flatten and shape (metal) by hammering.
   • A smith hammers out iron on an anvil.
2. (transitive) To create (something) by hammering metal; to repair (something made of metal that has become bent or dented) by hammering.
   • I watched a tinsmith hammer out a funnel.
3. (transitive) To remove (something tightly in place) by hammering.
   • The bolt wouldn’t budge so she tried hammering it out.
4. (transitive) To produce (a sound or signal) by hammering.
   • The kids are forever hammering out “Heart and Soul” on the piano.
5. (transitive) To type (something) on a keyboard.
   • Mrs. F. sitting at the desk, her pretty head bent over the typewriter, demurely hammering out the most hair-raising things that a man might do to a woman, or vice versa1954, Arthur Koestler, chapter 26, in The Invisible Writing, page 284
6. (figuratively, transitive) To create or develop (an idea, plan, piece of writing, etc.) with effort.
   • It took me all night to hammer out the first draft of my essay.

See all 7 meanings of hammer out