ˈhammer-head
1. The head or striking part of a hammer.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 144 The hammer hed..werth [= weareth] quite out. 1896 Hipkins Pianoforte 30 The flattened shape of the hammer-head favours a musical quality of tone in soft playing that distinguishes many good pianos when the hammers are nearly worn out. |
2. A head, likened to a hammer; a blockhead. (Cf. beetle-head.) Obs.
| 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 645/1 Is not ther an hamer hed more meete to make horshoune in hel, then to constre y⊇ scripture in earth. 1581 J. Bell Haddon's Answ. Osor. 4 b, Your owne foolish lying wordes properly forged in that hammerhead of yours. 1628 Gaule Pract. The. (1629) 216 The Hammer-heads sate lately vpon like consultation. 1947 R. Taylor Bar Nothing Ranch (1949) xvi. 151 The meanest old hammerheads under her tutelage became as cooing doves. |
3. a. A hammer-headed shark; so called from the great lateral expansions of the head. b. An American fish, Hypentelium nigricans, having a head of hammer-like shape.
| 1861 Couch Brit. Fishes I. 71 The Hammer Head is a rare wanderer to our seas. 1880 Gunther Fishes, The ‘Hammerheads’ or Hammerheaded Sharks belong to the most formidable fishes of the ocean. |
4. An African bird, the shadow-bird or umber-bird (Scopus umbretta); from the shape of the head with its occipital crest and long stout bill.
| 1890 Sat. Rev. 1 Feb. 139/2 The umbre is known in South Africa as the hammerkop or hammer-head. 1895 Pop. Sci. Monthly 773 That singular bird known as the hammer-head. |
5. hammer-head crane = hammer-headed crane.
| 1910 Encycl. Brit. VII. 371/1 The Titan is portable and the hammer-head crane fixed. 1938 Jane's Fighting Ships 37 Fitting out berth equipped with giant 25 ton Hammerhead Crane. |