hammer

▪ I. hammer, n.
    (ˈhæmə(r))
    Forms: 1 hamor, 1–3 homer, 1–5 hamer, 4 hamyr, 4–5 hamur, 5 hamere, hamour(e, -owre, 6 Sc. hemmir, 6– hammer, β. 5 hambir, -yr, 5–7 hamber.
    [Common Teutonic: OE. hamor, -er, hǫmer = OS. hamur (MDu., Du. hamer), OHG. hamar (Ger. hammer), ON. hamarr. The Norse sense ‘crag’, and possible relationship to Slav. kamy, Russ. kamen{supi} stone, have suggested that the word originally meant ‘stone weapon’.]
    1. a. An instrument having a hard solid head, usually of metal, set transversely to the handle, used for beating, breaking, driving nails, etc. Hence, a machine in which a heavy block of metal is used for the same purpose (see steam-hammer, tilt-hammer, trip-hammer).
    knight of the hammer, a blacksmith or hammerman. throwing the hammer, an athletic contest, consisting in throwing a heavy hammer as far as possible.

a 1000 Juliana 237 Carcernes duru..homra ᵹeweorc. c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 272/36 Malleus, hamer. c 1050 Ibid. 182/23 Porticulus, hamor. a 1225 Ancr. R. 284 Wultu þet God nabbe no fur in his smiððe—ne belies—ne homeres? c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1164 As hys brothres hamers ronge Vpon hys Anuelet vp and doon. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxx. 78 Withouten strook of hamour. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 225/1 Hamur (v. rr. hambyr, hamowre), malleus. 1528 in Rye Cromer (1889) 55 Withe too grett yerne hambers. 1555 Eden Decades 161 Such maces and hammers as are vsed in the warres. 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 210 Mechanicke Slaues With greazie Aprons, Rules, and Hammers. 1717 De Foe Mem. Ch. Scotl. ii. 38 He that has a Nail to drive, will not want a Hammer. 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. ii. ii. 359 The perforated oblong stone for a hammer. 1851 Richardson Geol. 473 [Those] known by the name of Sedgwick's, and by that of De la Beche's geological hammer. Ibid. 474 Mineralogical hammers of various forms. 1859 Autobiog. Beggar boy 4 The marriage was celebrated in a common lodging house in Gretna Green. I believe the ceremony was performed by a knight of the hammer.

    b. fig. A person or agency that smites, beats down, or crushes, as with blows of a hammer. Cf. L. malleus, O.F. martel.

[1308 Inscr. on tomb of Edw. I, in Westm. Abbey, Edvardus Primus: Scotorum Malleus: Hic est: mcccviii: Pactum serva.] 1382 Wyclif Jer. I. 23 Hou to-broke and to-brosid is the hamer of al erthe? 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 43 Saladinus..þe strong hamer of Cristen men. 1614 Sylvester Bethulia's Rescue iv. 30 Let my victorious hand Be scourge and hammer of this Heathen Band. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. iii. xiv. §14 As malleus Scotorum, the hammer or mauler of the Scots, is written on the tomb of King Edward the First in Westminster; incus Scotorum, the anvil of the Scots might as properly be written on the monument (had he any) of Edward the Second. 1674 Hickman Quinquart. Hist. Epist. (ed. 2) A iv b, St. Austin (the hammer of Pelagianism). 1679 J. Goodman Penit. Pardoned ii. i. (1713) 154 Broken by the hammer of affliction. 1873 Edith Thompson Hist. Eng. xxviii. ¶5 Thomas Cromwell..has been called ‘the Hammer of the Monks’.

    2. In various specific senses or uses: a. A lever with a hard head arranged so as to strike a bell, as in a clock.

1546 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 26 Item, for shotynge on hammer and a sprynge. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. xi, A Clocke, whose hammer was stricken by an Image like a Man. 1864 Skeat Uhland's Poems 319 Within the gray church-tower The hammer strikes the midnight hour. 1872 Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon i. 22 At Exeter..each bell has a sort of clock hammer striking on the outside.

    † b. The knocker of a door. Obs.

1585 Higins tr. Junius Nomencl. 214/2 Cornix..the ring or iron hammer wherewith we knocke at the doore. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Aldáua de puerta, the ring or hamer of a doore. 1625–6 Purchas Pilgrims ii. 1661 They neuer knock at the Gate (for there is no Ring or Hammer). 1627 Lisander & Cal. vi. 104 They heard againe great knocking at the gate by the hammer thereof.

    c. Fire-arms. (a) In a flint-lock, a piece of steel covering the flash-pan and struck by the flint; (b) in a percussion-lock, a spring lever which strikes the percussion-cap on the nipple; (c) applied to analogous contrivances by which the charge is exploded in various modern kinds of guns.

1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons ii. 47 To strike just upon the wheeles being fire-lockes, or upon the hammers or steeles, if they be Snap-hances. 1745 Desaguliers tr. Gravesande's Nat. Philos. I. 108 To drive the Cock, which carries the Flint against the Hammer. 1833 Regul. Instr. Cavalry i. 30 The flint strikes the hammer. 1851 Offic. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 1203 Percussion-gun, with an improved under-box and a safety hammer.

    d. A small bone of the ear; the malleus.

1615 Crooke Body of Man 531 With three Bones, the smallest of the whole body..the first is called the Hammer, the second the Anuile, the third the Stirrop. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) I. xiii. §5 The Auditory Bones are four in Number, the Hammer, the Anvil, the Stirrup, and between the Anvil and Stirrup there lies a small Bone. 1879 Calderwood Mind & Br. 71 The first bone has a rounded head, a narrow neck..its shape has led to its name hammer.

    e. A small hammer or mallet used by auctioneers to indicate by a rap the sale of an article. Hence in phrases, as to bring (send, put up) to the hammer, to sell by auction; to go or come to or under the hammer, to be sold by auction.
    (A similar hammer is used by a chairman to call a meeting to order.)

1717 Frior Alma iii. 571 When my dear volumes touch the hammer. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 291 Oft as the price-deciding hammer falls. 1828 Marly Life Planter Jamaica 181 These girls were brought to the hammer to pay their father's debts, being held to be part of his moveable property. 1842 Tennyson Audley Court 59 His books..Came to the hammer here in March. 1856 Reade Never too late x, He threatened to foreclose, and sell the house under the hammer. 1857 Ruskin Pol. Econ. Art ii. (1868) 128 If you like it, keep it; if not, send it to the hammer.

    f. (a) A small wooden mallet with a padded end or head, held in the hand, with which the strings of a dulcimer or similar instrument are struck. (b) A part of the action of a pianoforte, consisting of a slender wooden shank and a padded wooden head, which strikes the strings when the corresponding key is pressed down.

1774 Specif. J. Merlin's Patent No. 1081 A set of Hammers of the nature of those used in the kind of Harpsichords called Piano Forte. 1783 Specif. J. Broadwood's Patent No. 1379 The hammers which strike the strings. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 140/1 The action of the square piano-forte, on its first introduction, consisted of a key, a lifter, a hammer, and a damper. 1879 Stainer Music of Bible 52 The leap from a dulcimer to a pianoforte would have been immediate, if the first instruments with keyboards had hammers wherewith to strike the strings. 1880 Hipkins in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 468/2 The dulcimer, laid upon a table or frame, is struck with hammers.

    † 3. A small iron-forge. Obs.

1674 Ray Collect. Words, Of Iron Work 127 In every forge or hammer there are two fires at the least.

    † 4. A disease in cattle. Obs.
    [Cf. Cotgr. Marteau, ‘also, the Stithie (a beasts disease)’.]

1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 94 The Stithie happening to the Oxe, being otherwise called a Mallet or Hammer, is knowne when the beast hath his haire standing vpright all ouer his bodie. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 172.

    5. A match at throwing the hammer. (See note to sense 1.)

1897 Whitaker's Alm. 635/1 J. Flanagan..won the Hammer with 131 ft. 11 in.

    6. Phrases. hammer and tongs (colloq.): with might and main (like a blacksmith showering his blows on the iron taken with the tongs from the forge-fire). hammer and pincers: a phrase descriptive of the noise made by a horse striking the hind-foot against the fore-foot: cf. click, forging. hammer and sickle: an emblem consisting of a crossed hammer and sickle, used as a symbol of the industrial worker and the peasant, e.g. on the national flag of the U.S.S.R.; hence used allusively of Soviet-type Communism. Thor's hammer, h. of Thor: (a) the hammer carried by the god Thor in Norse mythology; (b) a figure somewhat like a cross (= fylfot); (c) a prehistoric ornament resembling a hammer. up to the hammer (colloq. or slang): up to the standard, first-rate, excellent.

1708 Brit. Apollo No. 56. 3/2 I'm now coming at you, with Hammer and Tongs. 1799 Sporting Mag. XIV. 187 To go hammer and pincers, is to over-reach and strike the hinder toe upon the fore-heel. 1801 Ibid. XVII. 119 For Hammer and Pinchers, or over-reaching. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xxxv, Our ships were soon hard at it, hammer and tongs. 1865 Kingsley Herew. iv, By Thor's hammer boys, see if I do not return some day. 1882 M. Peacock in Academy 7 Oct. 259 You shall mark your food with the hammer of Thor, and think you are signing a holy sign. 1884 W. C. Russell Jack's Courtship in Longm. Mag. III. 241 What cooking there was in it was up to the hammer. 1887 Frith Autobiog. I. xxi. 277 He turns to me, and we went at it hammer and tongs. 1921 Times 20 Sept. 4/6 The subjects of the..designs [of Bolshevist postage stamps] are symbolical of Labour..the 20 roubles a shield charged with the device of a hammer and sickle crossed. 1933 H. G. Wells Shape of Things to Come iii. §11. 330 There was still no discord with Russia; there the blazon of the wings was put up side by side with the old hammer and sickle. 1935 E. Weekley Something about Words 27 A new ideal in literature and poetry, a kind of ‘hammer and sickle’ conception of artistic composition. 1937 H. G. Wells Brynhild v. 65 It might be possible to indicate whether the flavouring [of a book] were sexual, intellectual, left, right, or detective, by some variation in the general design, an obelisk, for example, the hammer and sickle, the swastika or what-not. 1958 Listener 5 June 928/2 An Algiers broadcast said the choice was ‘between the Hammer and Sickle and the Cross of Lorraine’.

    7. Combinations. a. attrib., as hammer-bar, hammer-beat, hammer-bolt, hammer-boy, hammer-clang, hammer-drudge, hammer-mark, hammer-rod, hammer-shed, hammer-spring, hammer-stroke, etc.; (sense 2 f (b)) as hammer-butt, hammer-felt, hammer-fork, hammer-rail, hammer-shank; b. objective, similative, and instrumental, as hammer-beater, hammer-catcher, hammer-wielder; hammer-like, hammer-proof, hammer-shaped, hammer-strong adjs. c. Special combs.: hammer-action, (a) action of or as of a hammer; (b) those parts of a piano which compose and control the hammers; hammer-axe, a tool consisting of a hammer and axe combined (Craig, 1847); hammer-block, the steel face of a steam-hammer; hammer-blow, a blow or stroke of a hammer; also in the steam-engine (see quot.); hammer-cap, a cap covering the cock of a gun; hammer-cramp, a form of cramp or spasm to which hammermen are liable; hammer-dress v. trans., to dress (stone) by strokes of a hammer; hammer drill, a percussion drill; hammer-fish, the hammer-headed shark; hammer-flaw, -flush, the flakes of heated iron struck off by a hammer; hammer-gun, a gun fired by means of a hammer (see 2 c); hammer-hard a., made hard by hammering; hammer-harden v. trans., to harden (metals) by hammering; hammer-lock Wrestling, a position in which a wrestler is held with one arm bent behind his back; also fig.; so hammer-lock v. trans.; hammer-mill, a water-mill driving a hammer in a small forge; hammer-oyster = hammer-shell; hammer-palsy, paralysis of the arm caused by use of the hammer; hammer-pick, a tool with a head formed as a hammer on one side and a pick on the other; hammer-pike, ‘a long-shafted weapon, like the war-hammer..carried by the subalterns in charge of the flag under the First [French] Empire’ (Farrow, Milit. Encycl. 1885); hammer-pond, a pond in which water for driving a hammer-mill is stored; hammer-price Stock Exchange, the price realized for shares (of a defaulter) closed at the hammer; hammer-rifle, a rifle fired by means of a hammer; hammer-scale, the coating of oxide which forms on red-hot iron and can be separated by hammering (also called forge-scale); hammer-sedge, Carex hirta; hammer-shark, the hammer-headed shark; hammer-shell, the hammer-shaped shell of a bivalve mollusc of the genus Malleus; also the animal itself (also called hammer-oyster); hammer-slag, -slough = hammer-scale; hammer-stone, a prehistoric stone implement resembling, or used as, a hammer; hammer-thrower (see sense 1, note); hammer-throwing (see sense 1, note); hammer-toe (see quot.); hammer-tongs, tongs having projecting pins for holding hammer-heads or other articles with holes punched in them; hammerwise adv., in the manner of a hammer; hammer-work, (a) work performed with a hammer; (b) something constructed or shaped with the hammer; hammer-wrought a., worked into shape with the hammer, as iron, brass, etc. Also hammer-beam, etc.

1885 Encycl. Brit. XIX. 71/2 An altered German harpsichord, the *hammer action of which..may have been taken from Schroeter's diagram. Ibid. 72/1 In Frederici's upright grand action..the movement is practically identical with the hammer action of a German clock. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 22 Mar. 7/2 The explosion, which was probably caused by the hammer action of the water.

1927 Peake & Fleure Priests & Kings 165 Perforated hammer-axes..are said to have been found [at Tripolye].

1847 Emerson Poems (1857) 54 The joiner's *hammer-beat.

1382 Wyclif Job xli. 15 His herte..shal be streyned as the stithie of an *hamer betere.

1861 W. Fairbairn Iron 121 The *hammer-block is guided in its vertical descent by two planed guides or projections.

18.. Jrnl. Franklin Inst. CXXIII. 42 (Cent.) The so-called *hammer-blow in locomotives is the irregularity of the pressure exerted between the wheel and rail, which arises from the vertically-unbalanced action of the counter-weights placed in the wheel to neutralize the horizontal action of the piston and other moving parts.

1881 Instr. Census Clerks (1885) 42 Forge and *Hammer Boy. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 19 Aug. 9/4 There has been a considerable shortage of hammer boys in most of the mining districts.

1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 141/2 Block passed through the *hammer butt. 1896 Hipkins Pianoforte Gloss., Hammer-Butt, the centred butt of the hammer-shank in the so-called English action, shaped with the notch against which the sticker of the hopper works.

1823 Crabb Technol. Dict., *Hammer-cap.

1883 R. Macdonnell in Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 May 912 (title) *Hammer-cramp.

1837 H. Martineau Soc. Amer. II. 191 There are four viaducts of *hammer-dressed sandstone. 1854 H. Miller Sch. & Schm. (1858) 272 He hammer-dressed his stones with fewer strokes than other workmen. 1939 J. D. S. Pendlebury Archaeol. Crete iii. 98 The stones are invariably hammer-dressed, the saw not yet being used for masonry. 1940 Chambers's Techn. Dict. 401/1 Hammer-dressed, a term applied to stone surfaces left with a rough finish produced by the hammer.

1908 R. Peele Compressed Air Plant for Mines xx. 249 Numerous small air *hammer drills..have come into favor in the past few years... The hammer drill strikes a light blow. 1922 Encycl. Brit. XXXI. 958/1 Machine drills underwent important changes during 1910–20, especially in the development of the ‘hammer’ drills... In the hammer drill, the bit is held stationary..and is struck a rapid succession of blows by the reciprocating piston-like hammer.

1592 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 183 The grossest *hammer-drudge in a country.

1890 Daily News 12 Nov. 5/5 A local tuner had ingeniously brightened the tone of a piano by anointing the *hammer-felts with a mixture of whiting and glue.

1835 Booth Analyt. Dict. (Worc.), *Hammer-Fish, a rapacious fish; the balance-fish.

1729 G. Shelvocke Artillery iv. 182 Take of the Filings of Iron or of *Hammerflaw.

1644 Rushw. Hist. Coll. iii. II. 742 The Line strongly guarded with *Hammer-guns and Murtherers. 1886 Daily News 16 Sept. 7/2 He used a breech-loading double-barrelled hammer gun, with two triggers within a guard.

1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 31 *Hammer-hard, is when you harden Iron, or Steel, with much hammering on it.

1694 Ibid. 92 The Iron-Saws are only *Hammer-hardned. 1846 Greener Sc. Gunnery 105 We recommend hammer-hardening in all mixtures containing iron.

1752 Sir J. Hill Hist. Anim. 301 (Jod.) The squalus with a very broad transverse *hammer-like head.

1897 Pearson's Mag. III. 638 Hammer lock and Nelson on the ground. 1905 Daily Chron. 21 Feb. 7/4 The very thought of being *‘hammer-locked’ should be enough to deter the most confirmed ‘disorderly’. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands vi. 72 Jest you take a 'ammerlock holt iv yerself, 'n' 'ave some dam consideration fer others. 1907 G. B. Shaw Let. 23 Sept. (1956) 107 Short of giving Phyllis a leading part, and thus giving you the hammer lock on him, I dont know what to do. 1944 Infantry Jrnl. (U.S.) June 25 He got his Jap in a hammerlock. 1965 Economist 4 Dec. 1072/2 These are fuzzy far-off dreams, considering the right wing's hammerlock on the Republican party today.

1610 Holland Camden's Brit., Sussex 306 Pooles and waters..of sufficient power to driue *hammer milles, which beating upon the iron, resound all ouer the places adjoyning. 1884 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 326 To form ponds for driving the hammer-mills.

1756 T. Amory J. Buncle (1770) I. xiii. 55 Of all the curious shells..the *hammer oyster was what I wondered at most. 1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 261 The ‘hammer-oyster’ is remarkable for its form, which becomes extremely elongated with age; both ears are long, and the umbones central.

1869 W. Frank-Smith in Lancet 27 Mar. 427 (title) Hephæstic Hemiplegia (*Hammer Palsy).

1887 J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 366 *Hammer-ponds. 1895 C. R. B. Barrett Surrey vii. 168 Parallel to the road..I see a long series of hammer ponds.

1900 Westm. Gaz. 4 June 7/1 He can have the stock closed at the *hammer price. 1901 Ibid. 13 May 9/1 The actual dealings in the shares being between {pstlg}6 and {pstlg}8 per share and the hammer price {pstlg}2.

1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 141/2 (Piano-forte) *Hammer rail.

1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 634 *Hammer rifles. 1920 G. Burrard Notes on Sporting Rifles 15 Hammerless ejectors are better than non-ejectors and hammer rifles.

1884 F. J. Britten Watch & Clockm. 118 *Hammer Rods..in a Turret Clock..connect the movement with the hammers.

1866 Treas. Bot., *Hammersedge, Carex hirta.

1896 Hipkins Pianoforte 29 Cedar has been much used for *hammer-shanks on account of its elasticity.

1877 Bryant Poems, Sella 146 Hideous *hammer-sharks, Chasing their prey.

1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 13 The blast-furnaces that stand near the *hammer-shed.

1711 Phil. Trans. XXVII. 349 A sort of Rock or Tree-Oyster, call'd by some a *Hammer-Shell from its Shape.

1736 Specif. Kingsmill Eyre's Patent No. 553 There is then added..a certain small quantity of..*hammer slough.

1823 Crabb Technol. Dict. s.v. Hammer, *Hammer-spring, the spring on which the hammer of the gun-lock works. 1847 Infantry Man. (1854) 107 The little finger touches the hammer-spring.

1872 J. Evans Anc. Stone Implem. 29 The *hammer-stones used in the manufacture of flint hatchets. 1891 D. Wilson Right Hand 41 Similar hammer-stones occur in Danish peat-mosses.

1580 in Farr S.P. Eliz. (1845) II. 310 The steele obeyeth the *hammer-stroke.

1899 Daily News 18 July 7/2 The *hammer-throwers were out in the morning. 1968 Listener 11 July 49/2 There have been a number of marriages..between hammer-throwers and female discus-throwers.

1873 M. E. Braddon L. Davoren Prol. ii, Geoffrey Hossack practises *hammer-throwing with an iron crowbar.

1886 Syd. Soc. Lex., *Hammer-toe..a distortion of the second toe..so that it is bent upwards at an angle, the two terminal phalanges being flexed. 1894 Daily News 4 May 6/4 That resemblance to a section of a square arch which is known..as ‘hammer toe’.

1888 Pall Mall G. 6 July 11/1 A second will..thump down his fist, *hammerwise, to nail his arguments.

1398 Trevisa Barth. de P.R. xvi. iv. (Tollem. MS.), No þinge streccheþ more with *hamoure-werke þan golde. 1846 Ellis Elgin Marb. I. 107 Made several statues of this hammer-work.

▪ II. hammer, n.²
    Prob. = Ger. ammer, the yellow bunting or yellow-hammer, q.v.

1606 Chapman Mons. D'Olive iv. (D.), S'light I ever took thee to be a hammer of the right feather.

▪ III. hammer, v.
    [f. hammer n.¹]
    I. trans.
    1. lit. a. To strike, beat, or drive with or as with a hammer.

c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. xviii. (1869) 184 Whan I haue..beten him and hamered him. c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 950 To hamer, marteler. 1642 J. Goodwin (title) Anti-Cavalierism..for the suppressing of that butcherly brood of Cavaliering incendiaries, who are now hammering England. 1864 Skeat Uhland's Poems 334 He hammered the anvil hard into the ground! 1890 Baker Wild Beasts II. 167 They commenced hammering the good dogs with their heavy bamboos. 1907 F. H. Burnett Shuttle xxxviii. 379 Jem Belter, who ‘hammered’ a typewriter. 1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 26 The Potoki boys hammered the piano and banged the drums.

    b. To fasten with or as with a hammer, e.g. by nailing; to drive up, down, etc., with a hammer.

c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 152 Crist as he was ruthfully hamerd upon the croce. 1742 Young Nt. Th. i. 247 There beings..Are hammer'd to the galling oar for life. 1847 Tennyson Princ. v. 358 All that long morn the lists were hammer'd up. 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 35 If the hooks are hammered down too hard.

    c. To beat out, as metal, with a hammer; to shape with blows of a hammer.

1522 [see hammered]. 1605 Camden Rem. 200 The Lord hath dilated me by hammering me vpon the anvild. a 1712 W. King Ovid's Art of Love 16 Is it not hammer'd all from Vigo's plate? 1851 D. Wilson Preh. Ann. (1863) I. ii. i. 331 Armillæ of pure gold, hammered into rounded bars. 1875 Jowett Plato, Cratylus (ed. 2) II. 232 This is hammered into shape. 1878 Smiles Robt. Dick xiii. 94 Has been literally hammered out by the force of the waves.

    2. fig. a. (from 1 c.) To devise, design, contrive, or work out laboriously; to put into shape with much intellectual effort. Often with out. (Frequent in 17th c. ‘Used commonly in contempt’ J.)

1583 Stanyhurst æneis iv (Arb.) 96 What broyle Tyrus angrye doth hammer. Ibid. 108 Hym shee left daunted with feare, woords duitiful hamring For to reply. 1589 Greene Menaphon (Arb.) 82 He hammered in his head many meanes to stay the faire Samela. 1628 Chas. I in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1659) I. 631 The profession of both Houses in the time of hammering this Petition. 1681 Nevile Plato Rediv. 125 The Peers are Co-ordinate with the Commons in presenting and hammering of Laws. 1751 Affect. Narr. Wager 139 He endeavoured to hammer out some excuses for him. 1819 Byron Juan i. clxii, At first he tried to hammer an excuse. 1887 Saintsbury Hist. Elizab. Lit. viii. (1890) 314 Songs like these are not to be hammered out by the most diligent ingenuity.

    † b. To discuss, debate. Obs.

1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 117 A question, much hammered betweene Plato and Aristotle.

    c. To drive by dint of reiterated argument or persuasion (as an idea, etc. into a person's head).

1646 J. Hall Horæ Vac. 63 Others it must either be forced and hammered into. 1844 P. Hawker Diary (1893) II. 241 Hammering into his head the designs I wished for. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke Pref. (1879) 97 That priggishness and forwardness..are soon hammered out of any Cambridge man. 1866 W. Collins Armadale iii. xiv, Hammering common sense into his head.

    d. Stock Exchange slang. (a) To declare (a person) a defaulter (see quot. 1887). (b) To beat down the price of (a stock, etc.); to depress (a market).

1865 Harper's Mag. XXX. 619 The chronic bears were amusing themselves by ‘hammering’ i.e. pressing down the price of Hudsons. 1883 Pall Mall G. 17 Oct. 5/2 Having omitted to settle within that time [the three days' grace] he was promptly ‘hammered’. 1887 Financ. Critic 19 Mar., The head Stock Exchange waiter strikes three strokes with a mallet on the side of a rostrum in the Stock Exchange before making formal declaration of default of a member. Thus, to be ‘hammered’, is to be pronounced a defaulter. 1890 Daily News 28 Jan. 6/4 Bears were induced to hammer the market on bad shipments reported from Glasgow.

    e. To inflict heavy defeat(s) on, in war, games, etc.; to strike forcefully; to beat up. colloq.

1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 1939–45 90 Hammer, to shell severely. To inflict a heavy defeat on. 1959 Times 28 May 4/6 Smith hammered Slade for two fours and a six. 1973 Times 5 Jan. 17/5 Challenging the well-entrenched leaders in the United Kingdom car rental industry seems to hold no fears for Crook. He is hoping to hammer them on both quality and price. 1973 Courier & Advertiser (Dundee) 14 Feb. 5/3 He was severely injured about the face and his dentures were broken. He had no doubt that he had been ‘hammered’.

    II. intr.
    3. a. lit. To deal blows with or as with a hammer; to strike a succession of heavy blows; to thump.

13.. Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2311 Þaȝ he homered heterly, hurt hym no more. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxx. 78 To bete or hameren vppon his hede by yeuynge of counceylle contrary to his plesaunce. 1586 J. Hooker Girald. Irel. in Holinshed II. 32 We haue no leasure to serue the Muses, but to be hammering with weapons. 1886 Stokes Celtic Ch. (1888) 349 He found an English tourist hammering away with a geologist's hammer. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 186 The lawyer..hammered on the door with his heavy whipstock.

    b. Of a pipe: to make a knocking noise, as when a flow of liquid is suddenly stopped by turning a tap. (Cf. water-hammer 2.)

1889 P. Hasluck Model Engin. Handybk. 108 The pump, owing to its not being filled properly at each stroke, will hammer very much.

    4. fig. † a. To devise plans laboriously, ‘cudgel one's brains’, debate or deliberate earnestly (upon, on, at, of); with upon, sometimes, To reiterate, persist in, insist upon. Obs.

1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 18 That Whereon, this month I haue bin hamering. 1598 R. Grenewey Tacitus' Ann. xv. viii. 232 He came againe to Rome, hammering greatly with himselfe of going to the prouinces of the East. 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. v. 18 This the heathens had..hammered at. 1777 J. Q. Adams Fam. Lett. (1876) 293 We have been several days hammering upon money.

    † b. Of an idea: To present itself persistently to one's mind as matter of debate; to be in agitation.

1588 Shakes. Tit. A. ii. iii. 39 Blood, and reuenge, are Hammering in my head. 1593 G. Fletcher Rich. III, xviii. Poems (Grosart) 151 So still a crowne did hammer in my head. 1667 Dryden Sir Martin Mar-all i. i. (R.), A thousand things are hammering in his head; 'tis a fruitful noddle, though I say it.

    c. To work hard, toil; to make persistent and laborious attempts. Const. at.

1755 Johnson, Hammer, to work; to be busy: in contempt. 1826 Scott Jrnl. 7 May, Hammered on at the Review till my backbone ached. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. (1892) II. ii. 41 He liked..to hammer away at his poems in a study where chaos reigned supreme. 1887 T. A. Trollope What I remember I. ix. 215 The examiner had been hammering away at the man next before me for an inordinate time. 1892 A. S. Wilkins in Bookman Oct. 26/2 Hammering away at a point which he wished to enforce.

    5. To make reiterated laborious efforts to speak, to stammer. Now only dial.

1619 R. Weste Bk. Demeanor 109 in Babees Bk. 294 If in thy tale thou hammering stand, or coughing twixt thy words. 1685 Wood Life 21 Feb. (O.H.S.) III. 132 He hammered so long for a Latin word for an ‘address’. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. III. 351 Was he hammering over the name. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., To Hammer, to speak confusedly, to stammer.

Oxford English Dictionary