Hammer Definition

hămər

hammered, hammering, hammers

noun

hammers

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.

American Heritage

A tool or device similar in function or action to this striking tool, as:

American Heritage

The malleus, one of the three bones of the middle ear.

Webster's New World

A metal ball weighing usually sixteen pounds, hung from a wire handle and thrown for distance in a track-and-field competition.

Webster's New World

An auctioneer's gavel.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

hammered, hammering, hammers

To hit, especially repeatedly, with a hammer; pound.

American Heritage

To strike repeatedly with or as with a hammer.

Webster's New World

To assault with military force.

Hammered the position with artillery shells.

American Heritage

To drive, force, or shape with or as with hammer blows.

To hammer an idea into someone's head.

Webster's New World

To make or fasten with a hammer.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

idiom

under the hammer

For sale at an auction.

American Heritage

hammer and tongs

with all one's might; very vigorously

Webster's New World

hammer (away) at

to work continuously or energetically at
to keep emphasizing or talking about

Webster's New World

hammer out

to shape, construct, or produce by hammering
to make flat by hammering

Webster's New World

under the hammer

for sale at auction

Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Hammer

Noun

Singular:

hammer

Plural:

hammers

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Hammer

Origin of Hammer

From Middle English hamer, Old English hamor, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare). The Germanic *hamaraz "tool with a stone head" derives from a Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱmoros (compare Sanskrit [script?] (aśmará, “stony”)), itself a derivation from *h₂éḱmō (“stone”).

From Wiktionary
For *h₂éḱmō (“stone”), compare Lithuanian akmuõ, Russian камень (kamen'), Serbo-Croatian kamēn, Albanian kmesë 'sickle', Ancient Greek ἄκμων (akmōn, “meteor rock, anvil”), Avestan [script?] (asman), Sanskrit अश्मन् (aśman)) (root *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”)).

From Wiktionary
Middle English hamer from Old English hamor ak- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition