hammer
 ham·mer (hămʹər)n.
1. A hand tool that has a handle with a perpendicularly attached head of metal or other heavy rigid material, and is used for striking or pounding.
2. A tool or device similar in function or action to this striking tool, as:
a. The part of a gunlock that hits the primer or firing pin or explodes the percussion cap and causes the gun to fire.
b. Music. One of the padded wooden pieces of a piano that strikes the strings.
c. A part of an apparatus that strikes a gong or bell, as in a clock.
3. Anatomy. See malleus.
4. Sports. A metal ball weighing 16 pounds (7.2 kilograms) and having a long wire or wooden handle by which it is thrown for distance in track-and-field competition.
5. A small mallet used by auctioneers.v. ham·mered, ham·mer·ing, ham·mersv. tr.
1. To hit, especially repeatedly, with or as if with a hammer; pound. See Synonyms at beat.
2. To beat into a shape with or as if with a hammer:
hammered out the dents in the fender; hammered out a contract acceptable to both sides.
3. To put together, fasten, or seal, particularly with nails, by hammering.
4. To force upon by constant repetition:
hammered the information into the students' heads.
5.
a. To defeat soundly.
b. To inflict a heavy loss or damage on.v. intr.
1. To deal repeated blows with or as if with a hammer; pummel: “Wind hammered at us violently in gusts” (Thor Heyerdahl).
2. To undergo beating in the manner of a hammer:
My pulse hammered.
3. Informal. To keep at something continuously:
hammered away at the problem.Idiom:under the hammer
For sale at an auction. [Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor. See ak- in Indo-European Roots.] hamʹmer·er n.
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