hammer

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 ]