hamlet 
of houses in the country; especially, in Eng- 
land, a village without a church, which there- 
fore for its ecclesiastical service belongs to the 
parish represented by another village. Com- 
pare iHirixlt. The word has no technical use in the 
United States, except as the legal designation of a few 
villages in Michigan and Ohio. 
Sometimes with secure delight 
The upland hamlets will invite. 
Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 92. 
Each in his narrow cell forever laid, 
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. 
Gray, Elegy. 
To several of these towns there are small appendages be- 
longing called hamlets, which are taken notice of in the 
statute of Exeter. Blactstone, Com., Int., 8 4. 
=Syn. See town. 
hamlet 2 (ham'let), . [Origin not ascertained.] 
A fish of the family Serranidce, Epinephelus stri- 
atiis, also called Nassau grouper, common in the 
West Indies and along the Florida coast. It is 
chestnut-brown or slate-colored, with vermilion 
lips and throat. 
hamletedt (ham'let-ed), a. [< hamlefi + -ecft.] 
Established in or accustomed to a hamlet or 
a country life. [Bare.] 
He is properly and pitiedly to be counted alone that is 
illiterate, and unactively lives hamleted in some untravel- 
led village of the duller country. 
Feltham, Resolves, ii. 49. 
hammam, hummum(ham'am,hum'um),. [< 
AT. hammam, a hot bath, < Jiaminim, heat water 
for a bath.] An establishment for bathing in 
the Oriental manner with sweating and manip- 
ulation ; a Turkish or other Oriental bath. 
I ... got a late hackney chariot and drove to the Hum- 
mums in Covent Garden. 
Dickens, Great Expectations, xlv. 
Sometimes ... we induce him to accompany us to the 
Haminam, where he [Shaykh MohammedJ insists upon 
paying the smallest sum, quarrelling with everything and 
everybody. R. F. Burton, El-Medlnah, p. 70. 
hammel, hammle (ham'l), . i. Dialectal forms 
of liamble. 
hammer 1 (ham'er), . [< ME. liamer, homer, < 
AS. hamor, hamer, homer = OS. hamur = OFries. 
homer, hamer = D. hamer = MLG. hamer = 
OHG. hamar, MHG. hamer, G. hammer = Icel. 
hamarr = Sw. hammare = Dan. hammer, a ham- 
mer. The Icel. hamarr means also a crag, rock, 
suggesting a connection with OBulg. kameiti, 
Euss. kamene, a stone, these and the Teut. forms 
having (in this view) suffered a transposition 
of the first two consonants: 
cf. Lith. akmti (akmen-) = 
Lett, akmins, a stone, = Gr. 
anfiuv, an anvil, thunder- 
bolt, = Skt. acinan, a stone, 
thunderbolt. The first ham- 
mers were of stone.] 1. 
An instrument consisting 
of a solid head, usually of 
metal, but sometimes of 
wood or of stone, set cross- 
wise to the handle, used for beating metals, 
driving nails or spikes, dressing or breaking 
stones, etc.; hence, a machine in which a heavy 
Riveting-hammer. 
a, face ; *, poll ; c, eye ; 
d, peen ; ?, helve. 
a, Blocking-hammer; *, Head of a Peen-hammer: c. Bricklayers' 
Hammer. 
block of metal is used for such a purpose. See 
steam-hammer, tilt-hammer, trip-hammer. The 
head of the hammer is made in various forms, according 
to the use to which it is to be put. Hammers of stone are 
found among the remains of antiquity, and are still in use 
among barbarous races. The hammer has also been used 
as a weapon of attack in war. See martel-de-fer. 
The hamyr bothe stern and grete, 
That droffe the naylys throw hand and fote, 
Lord, be myn socowr in alle myn lyffe. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 186. 
Is not my word like as a fire 1 saith the Lord ; and like 
a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Jer. xxiii. 29. 
Gold itself will be sometimes so eager (as artists call it) 
that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself. 
Locke, Human Understanding, iii. 6. 
2. Something which resembles the common 
hammer in form, action, or use. (a) The piece in 
a clock which strikes upon the bell to indicate the hour ; 
the striker, (b) In a bell, an independent wooden or me- 
tallic lever by which it is sounded: distinguished from 
a toHtfii'', which is attached to the bell, and is usually oper- 
uted by swinging the bell itself, though a tongue is some- 
times used as a hammer. (') A small wooden mallet with 
2697 
a padded end or knob, held in the hand, with which the 
strings of the dulcimer and other similar instruments are 
struck, (d) In the pianoforte, that part of the mechanism 
or "action " that is thrown against the strings by the key 
or digital. It consists of a slender, elastic wooden shank, 
and a wooden head thickly covered with felt. Each key 
has its own hammer, which strikes against the one, two, 
three, or four strings belonging to that particular key. 
(e) That part of the lock of a firearm which falls with a 
sharp blow and causes the discharge of the piece. In the 
flint-lock the piece of Hint was secured in the front of 
the hammer and struck sharply against the steel cover- 
ing of the pan, displacing it and throwing sparks into the 
priming in the pan. In the percussion-lock the blow of 
the hammer explodes the percussion-cap. Ordinarily the 
]i:iiinner can be fixed at half-cock, at which point the pnll 
of the trigger does not move it, and at full-cock, when the 
movement of the trigger will release it. The form of the 
hammer and the mode of its action in exploding the charge 
differ greatly in different kinds of guns. See rebounding 
luck (under tocii), and cut under gun. (/) A gavel used 
by auctioneers. See to bring to the hammer, below. 
Oft as the price-deciding hammer falls, 
He notes it in his book. Cowyer, Task, vi. 291. 
(17) A door-knocker. [Rare.] 
Then nightly Knockings at your Door will cease, 
Whose noiseless Hammer, then, may rust in Peace. 
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
(h) In anat., the malleus, (i) The head of a sphyrnid or 
hammer-headed shark. 
The eyes on the sides of the " hammer "; mouth crescent- 
shaped, under the "hammer." 
Jordan and Gilbert, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 16, 
[1883, p. 25. 
3. Figuratively, an aggressive and destructive 
foe : as, a hammer of heretics (Latin malleus 
liaireticorum). 
That renowned pillar of truth, and hammer of heresies, 
St. Augustine. Hakewill, Apology. 
Atmospheric hammer. See atmospheric. Cat's-head 
hammer. Same as bully-head. Ceremonial hammer, 
in archceoL, a small stone object resembling the head of a 
hammer or hatchet, one- or two-edged, and drilled with a 
fine hole, apparently intended to be hung about the person 
as an amulet. It is especially common in North America, 
but amber beads resembling it in form are found in north- 
ern Europe. Compare ceremonial hatchet, under hatchet. 
Dead-stroke hammer. See drop-press. Dental 
hammer or plugger, an apparatus used in filling teeth 
with gold, consisting of a plugging instrument fitted to a 
loose sleeve carrying a spring and a tapping device. When 
the instrument is pressed against the filling of the teeth, 
the sleeve or tool-stock moves back till a detent is passed, 
when the sleeve is released and under the influence of a 
spring strikes a blow upon the plugger. Also called auto- 
viatic mallet. Double hammer, a forging device for 
operating upon a bloom or puddlers' ball, striking it on 
opposite sides simultaneously. Farrow. Electric ham- 
mer, an electrical apparatus for working a rock-drill. 
It is constructed on the principle of the dental hammer. 
Enlargmg-hammer, the hammer used by a gold-beat- 
er. It weighs 14 or 15 pounds, and is shaped like a trun- 
cated hexagonal pyramid, with a slightly convex face. 
Fairy hammer. See fairy. Hammer and tongs, with 
great noise, vigor, or violence; violently; vigorously. 
[Colloq.] 
Mr. Malone . . . dashed out of a doorway close by, and 
before they had time to form line of battle, fell upon them 
hammer and tongs. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, Ix. 
Horseman's hammer. Same as martel-de-fer. Lu- 
cerne hammer, a name given to the war-hammer or 
marteau d'armes when fitted with a long handle for the 
use of foot-soldiers : so called because a favorite wea- 
pon with Swiss mercenaries from Lucerne. Millstone 
hammer. Same as mill-pick. Nasmyth hammer, a 
steam-hammer used in forging large masses of metal, 
especially iron, and having its head attached to the pis- 
ton-rod of the steam-engine by which it is worked. 
Patent hammer, in *f one-drexrring, a hammer having 
knife-like ridges on its face, numbering 6, 8, or 10 to the 
inch. Thor's hammer, (a) In Norse myth.,tt\e ham- 
mer of the god Thor, by the wielding or throwing of which 
thunder and lightning were supposed to be caused, (ft) 
Same as fylfot, (c) A pendent ornament, usually of silver, 
found among relics of the prehistoric iron age in the north 
of Europe. It has somewhat the shape of a mallet, and is 
undoubtedly intended to represent a hammer as weapon 
or utensil. To bring or come to the hammer, to sell 
or be sold at auction : from the use by auctioneers of a 
gavel or small hammer to indicate by a rap the sale of an 
article to the highest bidder, called knocking it down. 
Old Sir Robert's pride, 
His books the more the pity, so I said 
Came to the hammer here in March. 
Tennyson, Audley Court. 
Veueerlng-hammer. a flat square of hard wood or iron 
with a handle projecting at right angles. (See also tun- 
ing-hammer, water-hammer.') 
hammer 1 (ham'er), . [< ME. hameren, homer- 
en = D. hameren = MHG. hemeren, G. hdmmern 
= Dan. liamre = Sw. hamra, hammer; from the 
noun.] I. trans. 1. To beat or drive with or 
as if with a hammer; pound; beat: as, to hfim- 
mer iron or steel ; to hammer one with the fist. 
Hammer into their noddles who was who 
And what was what. 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 151. 
Jael, as Altdorfer has shown her in his romantic print, 
neatly hammering the nail into the head of the sprawling, 
snoring Sisera. Contemporary Rev., LI. 523. 
A clever blacksmith can heat a large nail red-hot by sim- 
ply hammering it upon his anvil. 
W. L. Carjienter, Energy in Nature, p. 32. 
hammer-beam 
2. Tp fasten with a hammer by nailing or oth- 
erwise ; construct by the use of the hammer. 
He was hammered to the gibbet. 
Hrrcey, Meditations, I. 138. 
Here upon the flat 
All that long morn the lists were hammer'd up. 
Tennyson, Princess, v. 
3. To form or forge with a hammer; shape by 
beating : often with out. 
They, with unwearied pains and diligence, hammered out 
his bolts. Bacon, Political Fables, vi. 
Some hammer helmets for the fighting field. Dryden. 
4. To work upon in the mind ; contrive by intel- 
lectual labor; excogitate: usually with out: as, 
to hammer out a scheme. 
Hee, sommoning a parlee, hammered out such a strong 
Oration in praise of Ease, that they all strucke vp their 
Drums. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 32. 
Thy wicked head never at rest, but hammering 
And hatching hellish things. 
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, iii. 1. 
Who was hammering out a penny dialogue. Jeffrey. 
Hammered gold, hammered-up gold, thin gold-plates 
or gold-foil hammered into relief, intended to be sewed 
upon embroidery. See beaten work, under beaten. Ham- 
mered money, coins produced from a die by striking it 
with a hammer : distinguished from milled money, or coins 
produced by a mill or coining-press. See coining-press. 
What had become of me if Virgil had taxed me with an- 
other Book t I had certainly been reduced to pay the pub- 
lick in hammered money, for want of milled : that is, in 
the same old words which I had used before. 
Dryden, Epic Poetry. 
Hammered work, metal-work, especially in iron, done by 
hand, the metal being heated and the tools being hammers 
and anvils of different kinds, with punches, etc. 
II. intrans. 1. To strike something repeat- 
edly with or as if with a hammer. 
We wound 
About the cliffs, the copses, out and in, 
Hammering and clinking, chattering stony names. 
Tennyson, Princess, iii. 
2. To work industriously or persistently; be 
very busy; labor in contrivance: as, to be ham- 
mering away at an invention. 
Nor need'st thou much importune me to that 
Whereon this month I have been hammering. 
Shall., T. G. of V., i. 3. 
I forced a way 
Thro' solid opposition, crabb'd and gnarl'd. 
Better to clear prime forests . . . 
Than hammer at this reverend gentlewoman. 
Tennyson, Princess, iii. 
3. To be working or in agitation; keep up an 
excited action or state of feeling. 
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, 
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. 
Shak., Tit. And., ii. 3. 
What new design 
Is hammering in his head now 1 
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, i. 1. 
hammer 2 (ham'er), r. i. [Appar. a var. of ham- 
mel, hamble, perhaps associated with slammer.'} 
To stammer. [Obsolete or provincial.] 
If in thy tale thou hammering stand, or coughing twixt 
thy words. 
It doth betoken a liers smell, that's all that it affords. 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 294. 
hammer 3 ! (ham'er), . [Not found in mod. E. 
or ME. except in the comp. yellowhammer, and 
perhaps in the passage given below, where, 
however, the word, if not indeed a slang use 
of hammer^, may be an abbreviation of yellow- 
hammer, and not the genuine simple form ; < 
AS. amere, amors = MLG. amere = OHG. amero, 
MHG. amer, G. ammer, also dim. MHG. amerinc, 
(imerinc, G. emmering, (immering, also G. emmer- 
ling, ammerling, hammerliiig, etc. (see Emberi- 
ra), a bunting, yellowhammer ; prob. connected 
with G. amsel, D. amsel, > E. amzel = AS. osle, 
E. ouzel: see amsel, ouzel, Emberiza, yellow- 
hammer.'] A yellowhammer or bunting. As 
used in the following passage the meaning of 
the word is uncertain. See etymology. 
Slight I euer tooke thee to be a hammer of the right 
feather, but I durst have laved my life no man could euer 
have . . . cramd such a gudgeon as this downe the throat e 
of thee. Chapman, Motis. D'Olive, iv. 
hammerable (ham'er-a-bl), a. [< hammer^ + 
-able.'] Capable of beiiig hammered or shaped 
by a hammer ; malleable. Sherwood. 
hammer-ax (ham'er-aks), . A tool consist- 
ing of a hammer and an ax combined on one 
handle. 
hammer-beam (ham'er-bem), n. A short beam 
attached to the foot of a principal rafter in a 
roof, in place of a tie-beam. Hammer-beams are 
used in pairs, and project from the wall, extending less 
than half-way across the apartment. The hammer-beam 
is generally supported by a rib resting upon a corbel be- 
low, and in its turn forms the support of another rib which 
constitutes, with that springingfrom the opposite hamnier- 
beam, an arch. Although occupying the place of a tie in 
