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hammer

2 syllables
Quick answer

As a noun, hammer means a tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding. As a verb, it means strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.

Meanings of hammer

29 meanings

noun

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

    “Bobby used a hammer and nails to fix the two planks together”

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

    “The nail is too loose—give it a hammer.”

  3. firearmsA moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.

  4. anatomyThe malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.

  5. musicIn 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”

  6. sportsA device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.

  7. curlingThe last stone in an end.

  8. frisbeeA frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.

  9. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.

  10. One who, or that which, smites or shatters.

    “St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.”

  11. motor racingThe accelerator pedal.

  12. The part of a gunlock that strikes the percussion cap when the trigger is pulled

    Similar: cock
  13. The ossicle attached to the eardrumbody

    Similar: malleus
  14. A light drumstick with a rounded head that is used to strike such percussion instruments as chimes, kettledrums, marimbas, glockenspiels, etc.

    Similar: mallet

Ellipsis of hammer headline

verb

  1. To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.

    “Tony hammered on the door to try to get him to open.”

  2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.

  3. figurativelyTo emphasize a point repeatedly.

  4. sportsetc.To hit particularly hard.

  5. cyclingslangTo ride very fast.

  6. To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.

    “I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.”

  7. slangfigurativelysportsTo defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly

    “We hammered them 5-0!”

  8. slangcomputingTo make high demands on (a system or service).

  9. financeTo declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.

  10. financeTo beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).

  11. sexcolloquialTo have hard sex with.

    “Danielle hammered Mary til she came.”

  12. Create by hammering

    “hammer the silver into a bowl”

    “forge a pair of tongues”

    Similar: forge

Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).

Synonyms by meaning

All synonyms for hammer →
noun: the part of a gunlock that strikes the percussion cap whe…
noun: the ossicle attached to the eardrum
noun: a light drumstick with a rounded head that is used to str…
noun: a power tool for drilling rocks
power hammer
noun: the act of pounding (delivering repeated heavy blows)
verb: create by hammering

Words that rhyme with hammer

All rhymes →

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