different between raccoon vs sledgehammer

English

Alternative forms

• racoon [from 17th c.]
• rarowcun [17th c.]
• r'coon (colloquial contraction)

Etymology

From arocoun (1608), from Powhatan ärähkun, from ärähkun?m (“he scratches with his hands”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???ku?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æ?kun/, /???kun/
• Rhymes: -u?n

Noun

raccoon (plural raccoons)

1. A nocturnal omnivore native to North America, typically with a mixture of gray, brown, and black fur, a mask-like marking around the eyes and a striped tail; Procyon lotor.
   • 1624, John Smith, Generall Historie, in Kupperman 1988, p. 64:

     Before a fire upon a seat like a bedsted, he sat covered with a great robe, made of Rarowcun skinnes, and all the tayles hanging by.

   • 1634, William Wood, New Englands Prospect:

     The Rackoone is a deepe furred beast, not much unlike a Badger, having a tayle like a Fox, as good meate as a Lambe; there is one of them in the Tower.

   • 2010, Charlie Brooker, "Screen Burn", The Guardian, 3 Apr 2010:

     Thus we're presented with […] a man who has the head of his penis bitten off by a raccoon, then bleeds to death in a forest.

2. Any mammal of the genus Procyon.
3. Any mammal of the subfamily Procyoninae, a procyonine.
4. Any mammal of the family Procyonidae, a procyonid.

Synonyms

• (Procyon lotor): coon (colloquial), common raccoon, North American raccoon, northern raccoon, trash panda

Derived terms

• coon
• coon dog
• coonhound
• Cozumel raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus)
• crab-eating raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus)
• in a raccoon's age / in a coon's age
• pygmy raccoon (Procyon pygmaeus)
• raccoon butterfly (Chaetodon fasciatus)
• raccoon butterflyfish, (Chaetodon lunula)
• raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides)
• raccoon eyes

Translations

Anagrams

• carcoon

English

Alternative forms

• sledge-hammer

Etymology

sledge +? hammer

Pronunciation

Noun

sledgehammer (plural sledgehammers)

1. A hammer that consists of a large, heavy, broad and flat block of metal (the head) attached to a handle typically 0.5 meter to 1 meter long. The sledgehammer's design is meant to allow it to be swung powerfully, and to distribute force over a wide area upon impact.

Derived terms

• use a sledgehammer to crack a nut

Translations

Verb

sledgehammer (third-person singular simple present sledgehammers, present participle sledgehammering, simple past and past participle sledgehammered)

1. To strike with a sledgehammer.

See also

• forehammer
• hammer
• mallet
• maul