Hammer

Phrases and Proverbs.

Gone to the hammer. Applied to goods sent to a sale by auction; the auctioneer giving a rap with a small hammer when a lot is sold, to intimate that there is an end to the bidding.

They live hammer and tongs. Are always quarrelling. They beat each other like hammers, and are as “cross as the tongs.”

“Both parties went at it hammer and tongs; and hit one another anywhere and with anything.”—James Payn.

To sell under the hammer. To sell by auction. (See above.)

· ·

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.