Hammer Sold Noun Bre ˈhæmə(R ˈhæmər Decision Blow

• the decision is a hammer blow for the steel industry.
• a gentle tap with a hammer
• he struck her on the head with a hammer.
• to come/go under the hammer (= to be sold at auction)

hammer

1. a tool with a handle and a heavy metal head, used for breaking things or hitting nails
• see also sledgehammer
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/sledgehammer
• The decision is a hammer blow for the steel industry.
• a gentle tap with a hammer
• He struck her on the head with a hammer.
2. a tool with a handle and a wooden head, used by a person in charge of an auction (= a sale at which things are sold to the person who offers the most money) in order to get people’s attention when something is just being sold
• to come/go under the hammer (= to be sold at auction)
• Forty modern Russian paintings went under the hammer at Christie’s today.
3. a small wooden part inside a piano, that hits the strings to produce a sound
4. a part inside a gun that makes the gun fire
5. a metal ball attached to a wire, thrown as a sport
• See related entries: Athletics
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/topic/athletics/hammer
6. the event or sport of throwing the hammer
• See related entries: Athletics
  https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/topic/athletics/hammer
7. if two people are at it hammer and tongs or go at it hammer and tongs, they argue or fight with a lot of energy and noise
• We could hear the neighbours going at it hammer and tongs.

Word 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’.