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• hammer
  hammer

  noun

  a tool consisting of a solid head, usually of metal, set crosswise on a handle, used for beating metals, driving nails, etc.
• Hammer
  Hammer

  noun

  Armand, 1898–1990, U.S. businessman and art patron.

hammer

¹ American  

[ham-er] / ˈhæm ər /

noun

• hammers
  plural

1. a tool consisting of a solid head, usually of metal, set crosswise on a handle, used for beating metals, driving nails, etc.

2. any of various instruments or devices resembling this in form, action, or use, as a gavel, a mallet for playing the xylophone, or a lever that strikes the bell in a doorbell.

3. Firearms. the part of a lock that by its fall or action causes the discharge, as by exploding the percussion cap or striking the primer or firing pin; the cock.

4. one of the padded levers by which the strings of a piano are struck.

5. Track. a metal ball, usually weighing 16 pounds (7.3 kilograms), attached to a steel wire at the end of which is a grip, for throwing for distance in the hammer throw.

6. Anatomy. the malleus.

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verb (used with object)

• hammers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hammered,
  past participle,  past
• hammering
  present participle

1. to beat or drive (a nail, peg, etc.) with a hammer.

2. to fasten by using hammer and nails; nail (often followed by down, up, etc.).

   We spent the day hammering up announcements on fences and trees.

3. to assemble or build with a hammer and nails (often followed bytogether ).

   He hammered together a small crate.

4. to shape or ornament (metal or a metal object) by controlled and repeated blows of a hammer; beat out.

   to hammer brass; to hammer a brass bowl.

5. to form, construct, or make with or as if with a hammer; build by repeated, vigorous, or strenuous effort (often followed by out ortogether ).

   to hammer out an agreement; to hammer together a plot.

6. to produce with or by force (often followed byout ).

   to hammer out a tune on the piano; to hammer a home run.

   Synonyms:

   bang, knock

7. to pound or hit forcefully.

   to hammer someone in the jaw.

   Synonyms:

   strike, bang, knock

8. to settle (a strong disagreement, argument, etc.); bring to an end, as by strenuous or repeated effort (usually followed byout ).

   They hammered out their differences over a glass of beer.

   Synonyms:

   work out, thrash out, solve, resolve

9. to present (points in an argument, an idea, etc.) forcefully or compellingly; state strongly, aggressively, and effectively (often followed byhome ).

10. to impress (something) as if by hammer blows.

    You'll have to hammer the rules into his head.

11. British.

    1. (in the London stock exchange) to dismiss (a person) from membership because of default.

    2. to depress the price of (a stock).

verb (used without object)

• hammers,
  present (3rd person singular)
• hammered,
  past participle,  past
• hammering
  present participle

1. to strike blows with or as if with a hammer.

2. to make persistent or laborious attempts to finish or perfect something (sometimes followed byaway ).

   He hammered away at his speech for days.

3. to reiterate; emphasize by repetition (often followed byaway ).

   The teacher hammered away at the multiplication tables.

idioms

1. under the hammer, for sale at public auction.

   The old estate and all its furnishings went under the hammer.

Hammer ² American  

[ham-er] / ˈhæm ər /

noun

1. Armand, 1898–1990, U.S. businessman and art patron.

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hammer British  

/ ˈhæmə /

noun

1. a hand tool consisting of a heavy usually steel head held transversely on the end of a handle, used for driving in nails, beating metal, etc

2. any tool or device with a similar function, such as the moving part of a door knocker, the striking head on a bell, etc

3. a power-driven striking tool, esp one used in forging. A pneumatic hammer delivers a repeated blow from a pneumatic ram, a drop hammer uses the energy of a falling weight

4. a part of a gunlock that rotates about a fulcrum to strike the primer or percussion cap, either directly or via a firing pin

5. athletics

   1. a heavy metal ball attached to a flexible wire: thrown in competitions

   2. the event or sport of throwing the hammer

6. an auctioneer's gavel

7. a device on a piano that is made to strike a string or group of strings causing them to vibrate

8. anatomy the nontechnical name for malleus

9. curling the last stone thrown in an end

10. to be offered for sale by an auctioneer

11. with great effort or energy

    fighting hammer and tongs

12. slang

    1. persistently demanding and critical of someone

    2. in hot pursuit of someone

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verb

1. to strike or beat (a nail, wood, etc) with or as if with a hammer

2. (tr) to shape or fashion with or as if with a hammer

3. (tr; foll by in or into) to impress or force (facts, ideas, etc) into (someone) through constant repetition

4. (intr) to feel or sound like hammering

   his pulse was hammering

5. to work at constantly

6. (tr)

   1. to question in a relentless manner

   2. to criticize severely

7. informal to inflict a defeat on

8. slang (tr) to beat, punish, or chastise

9. (tr) stock exchange

   1. to announce the default of (a member)

   2. to cause prices of (securities, the market, etc) to fall by bearish selling

hammer More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing hammer

• under the hammer

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• hammerer
  noun
• underhammer
  noun
• outhammer
  verb (used with object)
• rehammer
  verb (used with object)
• hammer-like
  adjective
• hammerable
  adjective
• hammerlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• hammers
  plural

Participles

• hammering
  present
• hammered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• hammer
  simple
• hammers
  simple
• have hammered
  perfect
• has hammered
  perfect
• am hammering
  progressive
• are hammering
  progressive
• is hammering
  progressive
• have been hammering
  perfect progressive
• has been hammering
  perfect progressive

Past

• hammered
  simple
• had hammered
  perfect
• was hammering
  progressive
• were hammering
  progressive
• had been hammering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will hammer
  simple
• will have hammered
  perfect
• will be hammering
  progressive
• will have been hammering
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of hammer

First recorded before 1000; Middle English hamer, Old English hamor; cognate with German Hammer “hammer,” Old Norse hamarr “hammer, crag”; originally, a stone weapon; probably akin to Russian kámen' “stone”

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Explanation

A hammer is a tool you can use to drive nails into wood or other materials. You'll find a hammer in just about any toolbox, since it's useful for hanging pictures, making repairs, or breaking things apart. When you hit a nail again and again with a hammer, you hammer it. Other kinds of hammers include the part of a gun that swings forcefully when the trigger is pulled; the padded striker in a piano that hits a string when a note is played; and a Marvel Comics supervillain whose partner in crime is named Anvil. There's also the hammerhead shark, named for the odd, hammer-like shape of its head.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hammer Hammer hammers hammered hammering

The three items were sold to a British private collector at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in the Cotswolds on Wednesday, fetching a hammer price of £5,000 - double the estimate.

From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026

He was a hammer meeting a nail, traveling to the run down parts of towns all over America to shore things up — to entertain rather than win over audiences.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026

The initial phase of contract talks still would have union and county representatives seeking to hammer out a mutually beneficial deal, with a presumption that both sides would negotiate in good faith.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

“We’re trying to avoid a blunt hammer of a government policy, understanding the complexity of refining.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

Above us hammer blows and splintering wood showed where a squad of trained searchers was probing for the secret room.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Hammer board chair Eric Esrailian recalled that Ryan immediately focused on the safety of the staff and museum community.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

He does this by making short videos for YouTuber and podcaster Caleb Hammer, who is best known for hosting a show called Financial Audit, which analyses the personal finances of his guests.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Athena and Hammer from the Gladiators TV show sent off over 2,000 young runners in the AJ Bell Junior and Mini Great Scottish Run on Glasgow Green.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Hammer was dropped by his agency and lost acting jobs, and he now contends he had no idea “Citizen Vigilante” would be so “disgusting.”

From Salon ● Sep. 25, 2026

When he came back—yes, the Mike Hammer was just over.

From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote

At The Yard, a junkyard playground on a former Coast Guard installation in New York City, children play with hammers, saws and knives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

The rhythmic clanging of hammers on bronze echoes through the Istanbul workshop where three craftsmen are landing blows with astonishing precision to transform featureless metal discs into highly prized handcrafted cymbals.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

But now we’ve had three visits in five years, and in my head, this hammers home the point that baseball players have nothing to gain from a visit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

The other reason was we were hammers and so we saw everything as a nail.

From Slate ● Mar. 30, 2026

He showed her his hammers, demonstrated how the sandpaper wheel worked, his voice ringing high and proud.

From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

Even though “housing demand is being hammered, housing supply is also weak,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026

That message was hammered home Saturday for dozens of voting rights groups, community organizations and unions attending a rally to recruit and train poll watchers for the November election.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026

At the meeting, Kao and Reed, the super PAC’s chair, hammered out a deal for a six-figure donation, Kao told the FBI.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

Any deal would likely be hammered out ahead of time by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who meets his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng this weekend to prepare the ground.

From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026

They knew we’d get thirsty, even though the rain hammered our shirts to our backs and chilled us right through the skin, and being thirsty ever again seemed out of the question.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Tech firms took a hammering on Tuesday amid concerns about China's progress in developing AI chips and following comments by Broadcom's boss likening the AI buying frenzy to gambling.

From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026

One example of how midrange strikes helped there: Some of Russia’s electronic warfare systems run on generators, so hammering fuel logistics helped degrade this enemy capability.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

The Daily Express also quotes Badenoch, who is urging the government to end the "hammering" of Britain's shops and pubs.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

Hobson added that her focus has been on hammering home the museum’s populist themes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

The others he nailed into the grave’s damp red-clay walls while both of us lay on the grass, me holding a croker sack blanket and a long nail, him propped on his left elbow, hammering.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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