Synonyms

hit the books

[hit] Origin

hit

[hit] verb, hit, hit·ting, noun
verb (used with object)
1.
to deal a blow or stroke to: Hit the nail with the hammer.
2.
to come against with an impact or collision, as a missile, a flying fragment, a falling body, or the like: The car hit the tree.
3.
to reach with a missile, a weapon, a blow, or the like, as one throwing, shooting, or striking: Did the bullet hit him?
4.
to succeed in striking: With his final shot he hit the mark.
5.
Baseball.
a.
to make (a base hit): He hit a single and a home run.
b.
bat1 (def. 14).
EXPAND
6.
to drive or propel by a stroke: to hit a ball onto the green.
7.
to have a marked effect or influence on; affect severely: We were all hit by the change in management.
8.
to assail effectively and sharply (often followed by out): The speech hits out at warmongering.
9.
to request or demand of: He hit me for a loan.
10.
to reach or attain (a specified level or amount): Prices are expected to hit a new low. The new train can hit 100 mph.
11.
to be published in or released to; appear in: When will this report hit the papers? What will happen when the story hits the front page?
12.
to land on or arrive in: The troops hit the beach at 0800. When does Harry hit town?
13.
to give (someone) another playing card, drink, portion, etc.: If the dealer hits me with an ace, I'll win the hand. Bartender, hit me again.
14.
to come or light upon; meet with; find: to hit the right road.
15.
to agree with; suit exactly: I'm sure this purple shirt will hit Alfred's fancy.
16.
to solve or guess correctly; come upon the right answer or solution: You've hit it!
17.
to succeed in representing or producing exactly: to hit a likeness in a portrait.
18.
Informal. to begin to travel on: Let's hit the road. What time shall we hit the trail?
COLLAPSE
verb (used without object)
19.
to strike with a missile, a weapon, or the like; deal a blow or blows: The armies hit at dawn.
20.
to come into collision (often followed by against, on, or upon): The door hit against the wall.
21.
Slang. to kill; murder.
22.
(of an internal-combustion engine) to ignite a mixture of air and fuel as intended: This jalopy is hitting on all cylinders.
23.
to come or light (usually followed by upon or on): to hit on a new way.

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Hit the books is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
noun
24.
an impact or collision, as of one thing against another.
25.
a stroke that reaches an object; blow.
26.
a stroke of satire, censure, etc.: a hit at complacency.
27.
Baseball. base hit.
28.
Backgammon.
a.
a game won by a player after the opponent has thrown off one or more men from the board.
b.
any winning game.
EXPAND
29.
a successful stroke, performance, or production; success: The play is a hit.
30.
Slang. a dose of a narcotic drug.
31.
Computers.
a.
(in information retrieval) an instance of successfully locating an item of data in the memory bank of a computer.
b.
an instance of accessing a Web site.
32.
Slang. a killing, murder, or assassination, especially one carried out by criminal prearrangements.
COLLAPSE
33.
hit off,
a.
to represent or describe precisely or aptly: In his new book he hits off the American temperament with amazing insight.
b.
to imitate, especially in order to satirize.
34.
hit on, Slang. to make persistent sexual advances to: guys who hit on girls at social events.
35.
hit out,
a.
to deal a blow aimlessly: a child hitting out in anger and frustration.
b.
to make a violent verbal attack: Critics hit out at the administration's new energy policy.
36.
hit up, Slang.
a.
to ask to borrow money from: He hit me up for ten bucks.
b.
to inject a narcotic drug into a vein.
37.
hit it off, Informal. to be congenial or compatible; get along; agree: We hit it off immediately with the new neighbors. She and her brother had never really hit it off.
38.
hit or miss, without concern for correctness or detail; haphazardly: The paint job had been done hit or miss.
39.
hit the books, Slang. to study hard; cram.
40.
hit the bottle, Slang. bottle (def. 4).
41.
hit the high spots,
a.
to go out on the town; go nightclubbing: We'll hit the high spots when you come to town.
b.
to do something in a quick or casual manner, paying attention to only the most important or obvious facets or items: When I clean the house I hit the high spots and that's about all. This course will hit the high spots of ancient history.

Origin:
before 1100; 1865–70, Americanism for def. 5a; Middle English hitten, Old English hittan; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse hitta to come upon (by chance), meet with

hit·less, adjective
hit·ta·ble, adjective
hit·ter, noun
non·hit, noun
out·hit, verb (used with object), out·hit, out·hit·ting.
EXPAND
self-hit·ting, adjective
un·hit, adjective
un·hit·ta·ble, adjective
well-hit, adjective
COLLAPSE


1. See strike, beat. 25, 27, 29. See blow1.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To hit the books
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

hit
O.E. hyttan "come upon, meet with," from O.N. hitta "to light upon, meet with," from P.Gmc. *khitjanan. Meaning shifted in late O.E. period to "strike," via "to reach with a blow or missile," and replaced O.E. slean in this sense. Noun meaning "successful play, song, person," etc. first recorded 1811,
EXPAND
from verb meaning "to hit the mark, succeed" (c.1400). Underworld slang meaning "to kill by plan" is 1955 (n. is from 1970). Meaning "dose of narcotic" is 1951, from phrases like hit the bottle "drink alcohol" (1889). Original sense survives in phrases such as hit it off (1780) and hit on (1970s). To hit the nail on the head (1574) is from archery. Hit the road "leave" is from 1873; to hit (someone) up "request something" is from 1917. Hit and run is 1899 as a baseball play, 1924 as a driver failing to stop at a crash he caused. To not know what hit (one) is from 1923.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

hit definition


  1. n.
    a success; something that meets with approval. (Often with with.) : The fudge with nuts in it was a great hit at the sale.
  2. n.
    a successful result; something that is exactly as intended. : Your idea was right on target—a hit for sure.
  3. n.
    a drink of liquor; a dose of a drug. (See also bop.) : He had a hit of sauce and went out to finish his work.
  4. tv.
    to reach something; to achieve something. : I hit sixty next month, and I'm going to retire.
  5. tv.
    to kill someone; to assassinate someone. (Underworld.) : The thug set out to hit the mayor, but got nabbed first.
  6. tv.
    to attack or rob someone or something. (Underworld.) : Can you believe that they tried to hit a block party on Fourth Street?
  7. n.
    a robbery; an assassination. (Underworld.) : There was a hit at the bank on Maple Street last night.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

hit the books definition


and pound the books
  1. tv.
    to study hard. : I spent the weekend pounding the books. , I gotta go home and hit the books.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

hit the books

Study with concentrated effort, as in At exam time we all hit the books. [Slang; first half of 1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
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