hammer out

Definitions

1. 1

   To flatten and shape (metal) by hammering.

   • A smith hammers out iron on an anvil.
   • [Copper] is pretty ductile, bearing to be rolled or hammered out to a very thin plate, and also to be drawn out to a fine wire.
   • As the goldsmith hammers out his savage metal, / So is the infant axial to the dance.
2. 2

   To create (something) by hammering metal

   To create (something) by hammering metal; to repair (something made of metal that has become bent or dented) by hammering.

   • I watched a tinsmith hammer out a funnel.
   • The fender was so badly damaged that it couldn’t be hammered out.
   • […] some still unemptied cup / That he, when frenzy stirred his thewes, / Had hammered out on mountain top / To hold the sacred stuff he brews
3. 3

   To remove (something tightly in place) by hammering.

   • The bolt wouldn’t budge so she tried hammering it out.
   • ‘Well, you might hammer out these knots and use the holes for securing the scholars’ ink-wells […]’
4. ›+ 4 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To produce (a sound or signal) by hammering.

      • The kids are forever hammering out “Heart and Soul” on the piano.
      • These rites were preceded by the royal salute hammered out on a pair of wooden gongs as break of day.
   2. 5

      To type (something) on a keyboard.

      • Mrs. F. sitting at the desk, her pretty head bent over the typewriter, demurely hammering out the most hair-raising things that a man might do to a woman, or vice versa
   3. 6

      To create or develop (an idea, plan, piece of writing, etc.) with effort.

      • It took me all night to hammer out the first draft of my essay.
      • I haue beene studying how I may compare / This prison where I liue, vnto the world: / And forbecause the world is populous, / And here is not a creature but my selfe, / I cannot do it: yet Ile hammer it out,
      • Thus grew the tale of Wonderland: / Thus slowly, one by one, / Its quaint events were hammered out—
   4. 7

      To come to (a difficult agreement or settlement) after much arguing and conflict.

      • Two years after the flood, my lawyer managed to hammer out a settlement with my insurance company over the damages.

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