claw hammer


noun
  1. a hammer having a head with one end curved and cleft for pulling out nails.

  2. Informal. a dress coat.

Origin of claw hammer

1
First recorded in 1760–70

Other words from claw hammer

  • clawhammer, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use claw hammer in a sentence

  • I look at guns as any other tool for survival: A gun is an inanimate object that has a purpose, like a claw hammer.

  • Exchanging the claw-hammer for his office coat, Burns went out by way of the French window to the rear of the house.

    Red Pepper Burns | Grace S. Richmond
  • We shut the door in the face of facts if they do not come in the regulation claw-hammer coat of full dress.

    Mysterious Psychic Forces | Camille Flammarion
  • There's many on 'em, with claw-hammer coats and diamonds in their shirt-fronts, as hasn't got two quid to knock together.

    In Friendship's Guise | Wm. Murray Graydon
  • A key can sometimes be drawn by catching the end of it with a claw hammer and driving on the hub of pulley.

    Farm Engines and How to Run Them | James H. Stephenson

British Dictionary definitions for claw hammer

claw hammer

noun
  1. a hammer with a cleft at one end of the head for extracting nails: Also called: carpenter's hammer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012