hammer
noun
[ ˈhamə ]
• a tool with a heavy metal head mounted at right angles at the end of a handle, used for jobs such as breaking things and driving in nails.
• a metal ball of about 7 kg attached to a wire for throwing in an athletic contest.
• another term for malleus.
hammer
verb
• hit or beat (something) repeatedly with a hammer or similar object.
• "he hammered the tack in"
• attack or criticize forcefully and relentlessly.
• "he got hammered for an honest mistake"
Similar:
criticize,
censure,
attack,
condemn,
castigate,
chastise,
lambast,
pillory,
reprimand,
rebuke,
admonish,
remonstrate with,
take to task,
haul over the coals,
berate,
reproach,
reprove,
knock,
slam,
lay into,
roast,
cane,
blast,
bawl out,
dress down,
carpet,
slate,
slag off,
monster,
rollick,
chew out,
ream out,
pummel,
cut up,
bag,
excoriate,
objurgate,
reprehend,
• beat down the price of (a stock).
• "sceptical investors hammered the computer company's stock"
• declare (a person or company) a defaulter.
• "Willis was hammered in the recession"
Origin:
Old English hamor, hamer, of Germanic origin: related to Dutch hamer, German Hammer, and Old Norse hamarr ‘rock’. The original sense was probably ‘stone tool’.
under the hammer
• for sale at an auction.
• "the book went under the hammer at Sotheby's last Friday"
