sledgehammer
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Etymology
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmə/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈslɛd͡ʒhæmɚ/
Audio (General American): (file) - Hyphenation: sledge‧ham‧mer
Noun
sledgehammer (plural sledgehammers)
- 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.
- 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
- These were succeeded by anchor and chain-cable forges, where sledgehammers were dinging upon iron all day long.
Alternative forms
- sledge-hammer
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
kind of hammer
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Verb
sledgehammer (third-person singular simple present sledgehammers, present participle sledgehammering, simple past and past participle sledgehammered)
- (transitive) To strike (something) with a sledgehammer.
- 1989 December 10, Clyde H. Farnsworth, “Japan's Loud Voice in Washington”, in The New York Times:
- Some lawmakers were so incensed that they even invited the news media to watch the sledgehammering of the Japanese company's products on the Capitol's steps.
- 2009 February 22, Jane And Michael Stern, “Nirvana Express”, in The New York Times:
- She’s trying to piece together shards of precious pottery gleefully sledgehammered by a delegation led by the Taliban’s minister of culture, who deemed the world’s greatest collection of Central Asian artifacts un-Islamic.
Adjective
sledgehammer (comparative more sledgehammer, superlative most sledgehammer)
- Completely lacking grace and dexterity.
Further reading
sledgehammer on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
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