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.
Ham"mer (-m&etilde;r), 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.
Ham"mer, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Hammered (-m&etilde;rd); 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.
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.
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.
