%hammer%

n. A hammer with a head formed of a bundle of square bars, with pyramidal points, arranged in rows, or a solid head with a face cut into a number of rows of such points; -- used for dressing stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To dress with bushhammer; as, to bushhammer a block of granite. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The yellow-hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

With busy hammers closing rivets up. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

He met the stern legionaries [ of Rome ] who had been the “massive iron hammers” of the whole earth. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (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 Suppl. ]

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 (Zool.), 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hammered p. pr. & vb. n. Hammering. ] 1. To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows; as, to hammer iron. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating. “Hammered money.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; -- usually with out. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who was hammering out a penny dialogue. Jeffry. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whereon this month I have been hammering. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being/formed or shapeo by a hammer. Sherwood. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Gothic Arch.) A member of one description of roof truss, called hammer-beam truss, which is so framed as not to have a tiebeam at the top of the wall. Each principal has two hammer-beams, which occupy the situation, and to some extent serve the purpose, of a tiebeam. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Elec.) An interrupter in which contact is broken by the movement of an automatically vibrating hammer between a contact piece and an electromagnet, or of a rapidly moving piece mechanically driven. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Prob. fr. D. hemel heaven, canopy, tester (akin to G. himmel, and perh. also to E. heaven) + E. cloth; or perh. a corruption of hamper cloth. ] The cloth which covers a coach box. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the surface roughly shaped or faced with the stonecutter's hammer; -- said of building stone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who works with a hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To harden, as a metal, by hammering it in the cold state. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Zool.) A shark of the genus Sphyrna or Zygaena, having the eyes set on projections from the sides of the head, which gives it a hammer shape. The Sphyrna zygaena is found in the North Atlantic. Called also hammer fish, and balance fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Zool.) A fresh-water fish; the stone-roller. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) An African fruit bat (Hypsignathus monstrosus); -- so called from its large blunt nozzle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A bird of the Heron family; the umber. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Firearms) Without a visible hammer; -- said of a gun having a cock or striker concealed from sight, and out of the way of an accidental touch. [ 1913 Webster ]

. (Wrestling) A hold in which an arm of one contestant is held twisted and bent behind his back by his opponent. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n.; pl. Hammermen A hammerer; a forgeman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a hammer having a strong steel cutting blade, driven by compressed air in multiple rapid strokes, and used for cutting through pavement, concrete, or other hard substances.
Syn. -- air hammer, pneumatic hammer. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A simpleton; a silly person. [ Colloq. ] Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. (Stone Cutting) Having a surface dressed by cutting with a hammer the head of which consists of broad thin chisels clamped together. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who shams; an impostor. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

A tilted hammer; a heavy hammer, used in iron works, which is lifted or tilted by projections or wipers on a revolving shaft; a trip hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

A tilt hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Physics) 1. A vessel partly filled with water, exhausted of air, and hermetically sealed. When reversed or shaken, the water being unimpeded by air, strikes the sides in solid mass with a sound like that of a hammer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A concussion, or blow, made by water in striking, as against the sides of a pipe or vessel containing it. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A metal hammer used when heated, as by dipping in hot water, to blister the skin, as for counterritation. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]