ˈhammer-ˌheaded, a.
[f. prec. + -ed2.]
1. a. Having a head shaped like that of a hammer.
| 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. vii. 74 Their hammer headed Joawles Are ioyned to their shoulders iust. 1752 Sir J. Hill Hist. Anim. 301 (Jod.) The balance fish and the hammerheaded shark. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. ix, A long hammer-headed old horse. |
b. hammer-headed crane (see quot. 1910).
| 1908 A. Tolhausen tr. Böttcher's Cranes ix. 492 (title) Hammer-headed crane of 150 tons, constructed by the Duisburger Maschinenbau-A.-G. 1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 370/2 The so-called ‘hammer-headed’ crane consists of a steel braced tower, on which revolves a large horizontal double cantilever; the forward part of this cantilever or jib carries the lifting crab, and the jib is extended backwards in order to form a support for the machinery and counter-balance. |
2. fig. Dull in intellect; stupid; beetle-headed.
| 1552 Huloet, Hammer headed knave, Tuditanus. 1600 Nashe Summer's Last Will Epil. in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 92 Hammer-headed..clowns. 1855 Dickens Dorrit (Househ. Ed.) 402/2 You hammer-headed woman. |