Verb (pugilistic).—1. To beat; to punish (q.v.).
1887. T. E. Brown, The Doctor, p. 159. And bedad I did, and before herself too, And hammered him well.
1891. Gunter, Miss Nobody, ch. ii. ‘Hammer him? What with?—a club?’ ‘No, with my fists.’
2. (American).—To bate; to drive down (prices, etc.).
1865. Harper’s Magazine, p. 619. The chronic bears were amusing themselves by hammering, i.e., pressing down the price of Hudsons.
3. (Stock Exchange).—To declare one a defaulter.
1885. Fortnightly Review, xxxviii., p. 578. A ‘defaulter’ has been declared or hammered, as it is technically termed.
1888. Echo, 28 Dec. If any unfortunate member be hammered to-day or to-morrow it will in all probability be a bear.
1890. Daily Telegraph, 1 Nov. This being the third day after the general settlement, a defaulter who had been unable to provide cash was hammered, and private arrangements are reported in other quarters without resort to this extreme measure.
1891. Pall Mall Gazette, 25 July, p. 1, c. 3. But what is an ‘outside broker?’ some (possibly lady) reader may ask. Well, he may be, and often is, a regular, who has been hammered for failing to meet his ‘differences.’