different between hammer vs jammer

English

Etymology

From Middle English hamer, from Old English hamor, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz (“tool with a stone head”) (compare West Frisian hammer, Low German Hamer, Dutch hamer, German Hammer, Danish hammer, Swedish hammare), from Proto-Indo-European *h?e?moros (compare Sanskrit ????? (a?mará, “stony”)), itself a derivation from *h?é?m? (“stone”).

For *h?é?m? (“stone”), compare Lithuanian akmuõ, Latvian akmens, Russian ?????? (kamen?), Serbo-Croatian kam?n, Albanian kmesë (“sickle”), Ancient Greek ????? (ákm?n, “meteor rock, anvil”), Avestan ????????????????????? (namsa), Sanskrit ?????? (á?man)) (root *h?e?- (“sharp”)).

(declare a defaulter on the stock exchange): Originally signalled by knocking with a wooden mallet.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?hæ.m?(?)/
• Rhymes: -æm?(r)
• (US) IPA^(key): /?hæ.m?/

Noun

hammer (plural hammers)

1. A tool with a heavy head and a handle used for pounding.

2. The act of using a hammer to hit something.

3. A moving part of a firearm that strikes the firing pin to discharge a gun.
4. (anatomy) The malleus, a small bone of the middle ear.
5. (music) In a piano or dulcimer, a piece of wood covered in felt that strikes the string.

6. (sports) A device made of a heavy steel ball attached to a length of wire, and used for throwing.
7. (curling) The last stone in an end.
8. (frisbee) A frisbee throwing style in which the disc is held upside-down with a forehand grip and thrown above the head.
9. Part of a clock that strikes upon a bell to indicate the hour.
10. One who, or that which, smites or shatters.

    St. Augustine was the hammer of heresies.

    • 1849, John Henry Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations

      He met the stern legionaries [of Rome] who had been the massive iron hammers of the whole earth.

11. (journalism) Short for hammer headline.
    • 1981, Harry W. Stonecipher, ?Edward C. Nicholls, ?Douglas A. Anderson, Electronic Age News Editing (page 104)

      Hammers are, in essence, reverse kickers. Instead of being set in smaller type like kickers, hammers are set in larger type than headlines.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• mallet

Verb

hammer (third-person singular simple present hammers, present participle hammering, simple past and past participle hammered)

1. To strike repeatedly with a hammer, some other implement, the fist, etc.
2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.

   • hammered money

3. (figuratively) To emphasize a point repeatedly.
4. (sports) To hit particularly hard.
5. (cycling, intransitive, slang) To ride very fast.
   • 2011, Tim Moore, French Revolutions: Cycling the Tour de France (page 58)

     Fifteen minutes later, leaving a vapour trail of kitchen smells, I hammered into Obterre.
6. (intransitive) To strike internally, as if hit by a hammer.

   I could hear the engine’s valves hammering once the timing rod was thrown.

7. (transitive, slang, figuratively, sports) To defeat (a person, a team) resoundingly

   We hammered them 5-0!

8. (transitive, slang, computing) To make high demands on (a system or service).
   • 1995, Optimizing Windows NT (volume 4, page 226)

     So we'll be hammering the server in an unrealistic manner, but we'll see how the additional clients affect overall performance. We'll add two, three, four, and then five clients, […]

9. (transitive, finance) To declare (a person) a defaulter on the stock exchange.
10. (transitive, finance) To beat down the price of (a stock), or depress (a market).
11. (transitive, colloquial) To have hard sex with

    Synonym: pound

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• hammer out

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h?e?moros, from *h?é?m? (“stone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ham?r/, [?h?m?]

Noun

hammer c (singular definite hammeren, plural indefinite hammere or hamre)

1. hammer

Inflection

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ham?/
• Homophone: Hammer

Verb

hammer

1. (colloquial, regional) Contraction of haben wir.

Usage notes

This contraction is common throughout central Germany, southern Germany, and Austria. It is only occasionally heard in northern Germany.

See also

• simmer

Middle English

Noun

hammer

1. Alternative form of hamer

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Old Norse hamarr, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h?e?moros, from *h?é?m? (“stone”).

Alternative forms

• hammar

Noun

hammer m (definite singular hammeren, indefinite plural hammere or hamrer, definite plural hammerne or hamrene)

1. a hammer (tool)

Related terms

• hamre (verb)

Etymology 2

Noun

hammer m

1. indefinite plural of ham

References

• “hammer” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian hamar, from Proto-Germanic *hamaraz, from Proto-Indo-European *h?e?moros, from *h?é?m? (“stone”).

Noun

hammer c (plural hammers, diminutive hammerke)

1. hammer

Further reading

• “hammer”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Etymology

jam +? -er

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d?æm?/
• Rhymes: -æm?(r)

Noun

jammer (plural jammers)

1. Any device used to jam radio reception.
2. A form of swimwear used by athletes.
   • 2001, Newsgroups: rec.sport.swimming, Mon, 09 Jul 2001 21:39:52 GMT, Subject: Re: Laying out in Myrtle Beach

     As for me, I wear a dragsuit to the pool, and regular trunks to the beach. In competitions, I wear speedos, but am more comfortable in "jammers", which is a half-bodysuit.

   • 2006, David West, 140.6 - One Man's Journey: The Metamorphosis from Casual Runner, page 62

     In early May, I was starting to swim in jammers which I was not accustomed to or comfortable wearing. I have always thought that wearing spandex is an earned privelege, not a birthright.

   • 2007, Janet Evans, Janet Evans' Total Swimming, page 5

     Enter jammers in the mid-1990s. Jammers have the look of biking shorts with skin-tight Lycra covering the thigh to mid-thigh or the knee, depending on the cut.

3. A musician who jams.
4. A device (e.g. a jumar) which will slide along a rope in one direction but not the other, used in rock-climbing, caving etc.
5. (roller derby) A player who attempts to score points by making their way past other players.

See also

• windjammer

Afrikaans

Alternative forms

• djammer (Cape Afrikaans)

Etymology

From Dutch jammer, from Middle Dutch jammer, from Old Dutch iamer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ja.m?r/

Interjection

jammer

1. sorry

Adjective

jammer (attributive jammer, not comparable)

1. sorry, regretful

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?j?.m?r/
• Hyphenation: jam?mer
• Rhymes: -?m?r

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch jammer, from Old Dutch i?mer.

Interjection

jammer

1. too bad, unfortunately

See also

• helaas

Adjective

jammer (comparative jammerder, superlative jammerst)

1. unfortunate, sad
2. (used predicatively) too bad, a pity

Inflection

Descendants

• Afrikaans: jammer

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

jammer

1. first-person singular present indicative of jammeren
2. imperative of jammeren

French

Verb

jammer

1. (music, notably jazz) To jam; have a jam session

Conjugation

Synonyms

• bœuffer

German

Pronunciation

Verb

jammer

1. inflection of jammern:
   1. first-person singular present
   2. singular imperative