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hammerhead

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Sphyrna lewin

Etymology

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From hammer +‎ head.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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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 organism with head shaped like that of a hammer:
    1. Any shark of the family Sphyrnidae, which only includes the genera Sphyrna and Zygaena, with eyes set on projections from the sides of the head.
    2. A hogsucker, a fresh-water fish of species Hypentelium nigricans, in the sucker family Catostomidae.
    3. A hammer-headed fruit bat, a fruit bat of species Hypsignathus monstrosus, with a large blunt nozzle.
    4. A hammerkop, a bird of species Scopus umbretta.
  3. (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.
  4. A turn-around; a parking area constructed in a subdivision for initial access and construction.
  5. (biology) A kind of ribozyme; hammerhead ribozyme.
Acid-base hammerhead ribozyme

Synonyms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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