- hammer
- [[t]hæ̱mə(r)[/t]]
hammers, hammering, hammered1) N-COUNT A hammer is a tool that consists of a heavy piece of metal at the end of a handle. It is used, for example, to hit nails into a piece of wood or a wall, or to break things into pieces.
He used a hammer and chisel to chip away at the wall.
2) VERB If you hammer an object such as a nail, you hit it with a hammer.[V n prep/adv] To avoid damaging the tree, hammer a wooden peg into the hole...
Builders were still hammering outside the window. [Also V n]
Derived words:hammering N-UNCOUNTThe noise of hammering was dulled by the secondary glazing.
Hammer in means the same as hammer.Also V P n (not pron)
V n P The workers kneel on the ground and hammer the small stones in.3) VERB If you hammer on a surface, you hit it several times in order to make a noise, or to emphasize something you are saying when you are angry.We had to hammer and shout before they would open up...
[V on n] A crowd of reporters was hammering on the door...
[V n on n] He hammered his two clenched fists on the table.
Syn:Derived words:hammering N-SINGAs he said it, there was a hammering outside.
4) VERB If you hammer something such as an idea into people or you hammer at it, you keep repeating it forcefully so that it will have an effect on people.[V n into n] He hammered it into me that I had not suddenly become a rotten goalkeeper...
[V at n] Recent advertising campaigns from the industry have hammered at these themes.
5) VERB If you say that someone hammers another person, you mean that they attack, criticize, or punish the other person severely. [mainly BRIT][V n] The report hammers the private motorist...
If we turned up late we would be hammered by everybody.
Derived words:hammering N-SINGParents have taken a terrible hammering.
6) V-PASSIVE If you say that businesses are being hammered, you mean that they are being unfairly harmed, for example by a change in taxes or by bad economic conditions. [BRIT][be V-ed] Look at the numbers of small businesses that are being hammered unmercifully...
[be V-ed] The company has been hammered by the downturn in the construction and motor industries.
7) VERB In sports, if you say that one player or team hammered another, you mean that the first player or team defeated the second completely and easily. [BRIT, JOURNALISM][V n] He hammered the young left-hander in four straight sets.
Syn:Derived words:hammering N-SINGOur cricketers are suffering their ritual hammering at the hands of the Aussies.
8) VERB If someone's heart is hammering, it is beating very fast, usually because they are frightened. [LITERARY]My heart was hammering. The footsteps had stopped outside my door.
Syn:9) N-COUNT In machines and instruments, a hammer is a part that hits another part. For example, in a gun the hammer causes the explosion which makes the bullet shoot out of it, and in a piano the hammers hit the strings and cause the sounds.10) N-COUNT In athletics, a hammer is a heavy weight on a piece of wire, which the athlete throws as far as possible.N-SING: the NThe hammer also refers to the sport of throwing the hammer.Events like the hammer and the discus are not traditional crowd-pullers in the West.
11) PHRASE: PHR after v If you say that someone was going at something hammer and tongs, you mean that they were doing it with great enthusiasm or energy.He loved gardening. He went at it hammer and tongs as soon as he got back from work...
They yell, shout and argue. For six hours a night they go at it, hammer and tongs.
12) PHRASE: PHR after v If you say that something goes, comes, or is under the hammer, you mean that it is going to be sold at an auction.Ian Fleming's original unpublished notes are to go under the hammer at London auctioneers Sotheby's.
Phrasal Verbs:
English dictionary. 2008.
