Hammerer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person or tool that strikes repeatedly with a hammer or in a hammering motion
2. Someone or something that pounds, drives, or shapes material by striking forcefully and repeatedly
3. An agent that delivers repeated blows with a hammer-like action to accomplish a task

Etymology: "Hammerer" is a straightforward formation: the noun "hammer" with the agentive suffix "-er" attached, meaning one who hammers. The root is among the oldest in the language. "Hammer" descends from Proto-Germanic "*hamaraz," which passed into Old English as "hamor," and the form has stayed close to its ancestor ever since, changing little from Middle English "hamer" to the modern spelling. The ending does the real work. The suffix "-er" comes through Old French "-ier" from Latin "-arius," a Latin marker of a person connected with a trade or activity, and it entered Old English as "-ere" from Proto-West Germanic. Attaching it to a noun has long been one of English's most productive ways of naming people by what they do, so "hammerer" joins a large family of words such as "baker" and "farmer." Its meaning is literal and transparent: someone who strikes with a hammer, whether a smith at an anvil or a worker shaping metal.

Synonyms: one who hammers