Ham"mer (-mər), n. [OE. hamer, AS. hamer, hamor; akin to D. hamer, G. & Dan. hammer, Sw. hammare, Icel. hamarr, hammer, crag, and perh. to Gr. 'a`kmwn anvil, Skr. açman stone.]
1.
An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like, consisting of a head, usually of steel or iron, fixed crosswise to a handle.
With busy hammers closing rivets up.
Shak.
2.
Something which in form or action resembles the common hammer; as:
(a)
That part of a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour.
(b)
The padded mallet of a piano, which strikes the wires, to produce the tones.
(c) (Anat.)
The malleus. See under Ear.
(d) (Gun.)
That part of a gunlock which strikes the percussion cap, or firing pin; the cock; formerly, however, a piece of steel covering the pan of a flintlock musket and struck by the flint of the cock to ignite the priming.
(e)
Also, a person or thing that smites or shatters; as, St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.
He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the "massive iron hammers" of the whole earth.
J. H. Newman.
Atmospheric hammer, a dead-stroke hammer in which the spring is formed by confined air. --
Drop hammer, Face hammer, etc. See under Drop, Face, etc. --
Hammer fish. See Hammerhead. --
Hammer hardening, the process of hardening metal by hammering it when cold. --
Hammer shell (Zoöl.), any species of Malleus, a genus of marine bivalve shells, allied to the pearl oysters, having the wings narrow and elongated, so as to give them a hammer-shaped outline; -- called also hammer oyster. --
To bring to the hammer, to put up at auction.
© Webster 1913
Ham"mer, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hammered (-mərd); p. pr. & vb. n. Hammering.]
1.
To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows; as, to hammer iron.
2.
To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating. "Hammered money." Dryden.
3.
To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; -- usually with out.
Who was hammering out a penny dialogue.
Jeffry.
© Webster 1913
Ham"mer, v. i.
1.
To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer.
Whereon this month I have been hammering.
Shak.
2.
To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively.
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Shak.
© Webster 1913
Ham"mer, n. (Athletics)
A spherical weight attached to a flexible handle and hurled from a mark or ring. The weight of head and handle is usually not less than 16 pounds.
© Webster 1913