Hammer

(1.) Heb. pattish, used by gold-beaters (Isa. 41:7) and by quarry-men (Jer. 23:29). Metaphorically of Babylon (Jer. 50:23) or Nebuchadnezzar. (2.) Heb. makabah, a stone-cutter’s mallet (1 Kings 6:7), or of any workman (Judg. 4:21; Isa. 44:12). (3.) Heb. halmuth, a poetical word for a workman’s hammer, found only in Judg. 5:26, where it denotes the mallet with which the pins of the tent of the nomad are driven into the ground. (4.) Heb. mappets, rendered “battle-axe” in Jer. 51:20. This was properly a “mace,” which is thus described by Rawlinson: “The Assyrian mace was a short, thin weapon, and must either have been made of a very tough wood or (and this is more probable) of metal. It had an ornamented head, which was sometimes very beautifully modelled, and generally a strap or string at the lower end by which it could be grasped with greater firmness.”

HAM'MER, the English translation of four different Hebrew words. The hammers mentioned by Isaiah, Is 44:12 "seem to have been the heaviest instruments of the kind for hard blows." Jael's hammer, Jud 4:21, was properly a mallet, such as the Bedouin use at the present day to drive the wooden tent-pins into the ground. The "battle-axe," Jer 51:20, and the "maul," Prov 25:18, were species of hammers used for warlike purposes. The tool probably resembled that of the present day. The word "hammer" is also used symbolically for mighty force. Jer 23:29; Jer 50:23.

HAM'MER, the English translation of four different Hebrew words. The hammers mentioned by Isaiah, Is 44:12 "seem to have been the heaviest instruments of the kind for hard blows." Jael's hammer, Jud 4:21, was properly a mallet, such as the Bedouin use at the present day to drive the wooden tent-pins into the ground. The "battle-axe," Jer 51:20, and the "maul," Prov 25:18, were species of hammers used for warlike purposes. The tool probably resembled that of the present day. The word "hammer" is also used symbolically for mighty force. Jer 23:29; Jer 50:23.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

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. With busy hammers closing rivets up. Shak.

2. Something which in firm or action resembles the common hammer; as:

3. That part of a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour.

4. The padded mallet of a piano, which strikes the wires, to produce the tones.

5. 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.

6. Also, a person of thing that smites or shatters; as, St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies. He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the "massive iron hammers" of the whole earth. J. H. Newman. 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 (Zoöl.), 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.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To beat with a hammer; to beat with heavy blows; as, to hammer iron.

2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating. "Hammered money." Dryden.

3. To form in the mind; to shape by hard intellectual labor; -- usually with out. Who was hammering out a penny dialogue. Jeffry.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To be busy forming anything; to labor hard as if shaping something with a hammer. Whereon this month I have hammering. Shak.

2. To strike repeated blows, literally or figuratively. Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. Shak.