Plural of hammer; tools with heavy heads used for striking nails or breaking things, or similar mechanisms in various devices.
From Old English hamor, related to Old Norse hamarr meaning 'stone, crag, hammer.' The tool's name comes from the idea of a stone attached to a handle. Extended meanings in anatomy (ear hammer) and mechanisms developed from functional similarity.
The hammer is so fundamental to human technology that its name appears in contexts from anatomy (the hammer bone in your ear) to computing (hammer time in programming). It represents one of humanity's first force-multiplying tools, transforming how we could shape materials and build civilization.
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