hammerhead

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word hammerhead. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word hammerhead, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say hammerhead in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word hammerhead you have here. The definition of the word hammerhead will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofhammerhead, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Sphyrna lewin

Etymology

From hammer +‎ head.

Pronunciation

Noun

hammerhead (plural hammerheads)

  1. The portion of a hammer containing the metal striking face (also including the claw or peen if so equipped).
  2. (zoology) Any of various sharks of the genera Sphyrna or Zygaena having the eyes set on projections from the sides of the head, which gives it a hammer shape.
  3. (zoology) A fresh-water fish; the hogsucker, Hypentelium nigricans, in the sucker family Catostomidae.
  4. (zoology) An African fruit bat, the hammer-headed fruit bat, Hypsignathus monstrosus, so called from its large blunt nozzle.
  5. (zoology) Scopus umbretta (hammerkop).
  6. (slang) A stupid person, a dunce.
    • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing:
      [The butler] joined us with a telegram for Bobbie on a salver. From her mother, I presumed, calling me some name which she had forgotten to insert in previous communications. Or, of course, possibly expressing once more her conviction that I was a guffin, which, I thought, having had time to ponder over it, would be something in the nature of a bohunkus or a hammerhead.
  7. A turn-around; a parking area constructed in a subdivision for initial access and construction.
  8. (biology) A kind of ribozyme; hammerhead ribozyme.
Acid-base hammerhead ribozyme

Synonyms

Translations

See also

References