Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HALVES, n. [plur. of Half.]

Two equal parts of a thing. To cry halves, is to claim an equal share. To go halves, is to have an equal share.

HALV'ING, ppr.

Dividing into two equal parts.

HAM, n. [Sax. ham, a house, is our modern word home, G. heim.]

It is used in hamlet, and in the names of places, as in Waltham, wood-house, walt, a wood, and ham, a house, (not Wal-tham, as it is often pronounced,) Bucking-ham, Notting-ham, Wrent-ham, Dur-ham, &c.

HAM, n. [Sax. ham.]

1. The inner or hind part of the knee; the inner angle of the joint which unites the thigh and the leg of an animal. Hence,
2. The thigh of a beast, particularly of a hog, whether salted and cured or not. But the word is more generally understood to mean the thigh of a hog salted and dried in smoke.

HAM'A-DRY-AD, n. [Gr. ἁμα, together, and δρυς, a tree.]

A wood-nymph, feigned to live and die with the tree to which it was attached. Spectator.

HAM'ATE, a. [L. hamatus.]

Hooked; entangled. Berkley.

HAM'A-TED, a. [L. hamatus, from hama, a hook; Celtic and Pers. cam, crooked.]

Hooked or set with hooks. Swift.

HAM'BLE, v.t. [Sax. hamelan.]

To hamstring. [Not used.]

HAME, n. [plur. Hames. G. kummet; Russ. chomut, a collar; but it seems to be the Scot. haims. In Sw. hämma is to stop or restrain.]

A kind of collar for a draught horse, consisting of two bending pieces of wood or bows, and these placed on curving pads or stuffed leather, made to conform to the shape of the neck.

HAM'ITE, n.

The fossil remains of a curved shell; an extinct species of cephalopodes. Mantell.

HAM'LET, n. [Sax. ham, a house; Fr. hamcau; Arm. hamell or hamm. See Home.]

A small village; a little cluster of houses in the country. This word seems originally to have signified the seat of a freeholder, comprehending the mansion house and adjacent buildings. It now denotes a small collection of houses in the country, in distinction from a city, a large town or township. The country wasted and the hamlets burned. Dryden.

HAM'LET-ED, a.

Accustomed to a hamlet, or to a country life. Feltham.

HAM'MER, n. [Sax. hamer; D. hamer; G. and Dan. hammer; Sw. hammare; probably, the beater.]

An instrument for driving nails, beating metals, and the like. It consists of an iron head, fixed crosswise to a handle. Hammers are of various sizes; a large hammer used by smiths is called a sledge.

HAM'MER, v.i.

1. To work; to be busy; to labor in contrivance.
2. To be working or in agitation.

HAM'MER, v.t.

1. To beat with a hammer; as, to hammer iron or steel.
2. To form or forge with a hammer; to shape by beating.
3. To work in the mind; to contrive by intellectual labor; usually with out; as, to hammer out a scheme.

HAM'MER-A-BLE, a.

That may be shaped by a hammer. Sherwood.

HAM'MER-CLOTH, n.

The cloth which covers a coach-box, so called from the old practice of carrying a hammer, nails, &c. in a little pocket hid by this cloth. Pegge.

HAM'MER-ED, pp.

Beaten with a hammer.

HAM'MER-ER, n.

One who works with a hammer.

HAM'MER-HARD, n.

Iron or steel hardened by hammering. Moxon.

HAM'MER-ING, ppr.

Beating with a hammer; working; contriving.

HAM'MER-MAN, n.

One who beats or works with a hammer.

HAM'MER-WORT, n.

An herb. Chalmers

HAM'MOC, n. [Sp. hamaca; Port. maca. A word of Indian origin; for Columbus, in the Narrative of his first Voyage, says: – “A great many Indians in canoes came to the ship to-day for the purpose of bartering their cotton, and hamacas or nets in which they sleep.”]

A kind of hanging bed, suspended between trees, or by hooks. It consists of a piece of hempen cloth about six feet long and three feet wide, gathered at the ends and suspended by cords. It forms a bed, or a receptacle for a bed, on board of ships. Encyc. Mar. Dict.

HAM-MO-CHRY'SOS, n. [Gr. αμμος and χρυσος.]

A stone with spangles of gold color.