hammer out


verb(tr, adverb)
  1. to shape or remove with or as if with a hammer

  2. to form or produce (an agreement, plan, etc) after much discussion or dispute

Words Nearby hammer out

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

How to use hammer out in a sentence

  • Henry's conscience was set at rest as he began with great delight to hammer out his bent nails.

    The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • Nevertheless, it took the United States several years to hammer out a working constitution.

  • If you only knew what fun I've got out of life at times; have to hammer out a bit of something lively now and then, you know!

    Dry Fish and Wet | Anthon Bernhard Elias Nilsen
  • From a half dollar they will hammer out or mold a bangle and cover it with chasing very deftly cut.

    Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska | Charles Warren Stoddard
  • Your paterfamilias, in pre-telegraph days, used to hammer out a few solid opinions of his own on matters political and otherwise.

    Alone | Norman Douglas

Other Idioms and Phrases with hammer out

hammer out

Work out with considerable effort, as in It took weeks of negotiations to hammer out an acceptable compromise. This usage likens intellectual effort to shaping metal with the blows of a hammer. [Mid-1700s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.