hammerhead definition of hammerhead in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

hammerhead, common name for a heavy-looking, heronlike bird, Scopus umbretta. Its plumage is brown with light and dark glossy, purplish streaks on the wings and body. It has short legs, partially webbed feet, and a heavy, wide, moderately long, black bill. Its stiff, backward-pointing crest, along with its peculiar bill, give its head a hammer-shaped appearance. Both sexes are similarly arrayed. Long-winged and long-tailed, the hammerhead, or hammerkop (as it is called in Africa), may reach a body length of 20 in. (51 cm). It is an inhabitant of the marshes and mangrove swamps of southern Arabia, Africa, and Madagascar, where it feeds primarily on aquatic animals, such as water insects, small fish, and amphibians. It often perches on the back of hippopotamuses, searching for frogs. Hammerheads reside singly, in pairs, or in small flocks, near water and seldom far from trees, in the forks of which they build intricate domed nests, some 3 to 6 ft (91.5–183 cm) or more in diameter. The nests, to which the birds return each year, are complex, three-compartmented structures, lined with mud and dung, and ornamented outside with bright-colored objects. The female lays a clutch of three to six white eggs. Both sexes care for the highly dependent young. According to native superstitions, hammerheads are evil omens, and it is considered bad luck to harm them. Such superstitions have kept the birds somewhat protected. Hammerheads are classified in the phylum Chordata Chordata , phylum of animals having a notochord, or dorsal stiffening rod, as the chief internal skeletal support at some stage of their development. Most chordates are vertebrates (animals with backbones), but the phylum also includes some small marine invertebrate
..... Click the link for more information. , subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Ciconiiformes, family Scopidae.

hammerhead

1. any shark of the genus Sphyrna and family Sphyrnidae, having a flattened hammer-shaped head

2. a heavily built tropical African wading bird, Scopus umbretta, related to the herons, having a dark plumage and a long backward-pointing crest: family Scopidae, order Ciconiiformes

3. a large African fruit bat, Hypsignathus monstrosus, with a large square head and hammer-shaped muzzle

hammerhead [′ham·ər‚hed]

(design engineering)

The striking part of a hammer.

Mentioned in	?		References in classic literature	?		Encyclopedia browser	?		Full browser	?
No references found	He met with more adventures than can be told, and narrowly escaped being caught by the Basking Shark, and the Spotted Shark, and the Hammerhead, and he met all the untrustworthy ruffians that loaf up and down the seas, and the heavy polite fish, and the scarlet spotted scallops that are moored in one place for hundreds of years, and grow very proud of it; but he never met Sea Cow, and he never found an island that he could fancy. The Jungle Book by Kipling, Rudyard View in context All I've ever seen of the great Land of Oz, Unc dear, is the view of that mountain over at the south, where they say the Hammerheads live--who won't let anybody go by them--and that mountain at the north, where they say nobody lives. The Patchwork Girl of Oz by Baum, L. Frank View in context It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this inexhaustible ocean. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Verne, Jules View in context	Hammath Hammedatha Hammer Hammer and Sickle hammer ax hammer beam hammer brace Hammer Drill hammer finish hammer forging hammer gun hammer mill hammer milling hammer pick hammer post hammer test hammer throw hammer track hammer welding Hammer, Armand hammer-beam roof hammer-dressed Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph Von hammered glass Hammerfest hammerhead hammerhead crane hammerhead key hammerhead shark Hammerhead Stork hammerheaded hammerkop hammerless gun Hammersmith and Fulham Hammerstein II Hammerstein, Oscar Hammerstein, Oscar, 2d Hammerstein, Oscar, II hammertoe Hammett Hammett acidity function Hammett, Dashiell Hamming code hamming distance Hamming, Richard Hamming, Richard W. Hamming, Richard Wesley Hammock Hammocks Beach State Park Hammoleketh Hammon, Jupiter	hammered dulcimer Hammered dulcimers Hammered dulcimers Hammered dulcimers hammered glass hammered home hammered home hammered home hammered home hammered into hammered into hammered into hammered into hammered into hammered out hammered out hammered out hammered out hammered out hammerer hammerer hammerer hammerer hammerer hammerer Hammerfall Digital Signal Processing Hammerfest Hammerfest Hammerfest Hammerfest, Norway hammerhead hammerhead crane hammerhead key hammerhead RNA structure hammerhead shark hammerhead shark hammerhead shark hammerhead sharks hammerhead sharks hammerhead sharks Hammerhead Stork hammerheaded Hammerheads Hammerheads Hammerheads Hammerin' Hank hammering hammering hammering hammering hammering hammering hammering away hammering away hammering away hammering away hammering away hammering home hammering home hammering home hammering home

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Encyclopedia browser

Full browser

No references found

He met with more adventures than can be told, and narrowly escaped being caught by the Basking Shark, and the Spotted Shark, and the Hammerhead, and he met all the untrustworthy ruffians that loaf up and down the seas, and the heavy polite fish, and the scarlet spotted scallops that are moored in one place for hundreds of years, and grow very proud of it; but he never met Sea Cow, and he never found an island that he could fancy.

The Jungle Book by Kipling, Rudyard View in context

All I've ever seen of the great Land of Oz, Unc dear, is the view of that mountain over at the south, where they say the Hammerheads live--who won't let anybody go by them--and that mountain at the north, where they say nobody lives.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz by Baum, L. Frank View in context

It was a real grief to me to crush under my feet the brilliant specimens of molluscs which strewed the ground by thousands, of hammerheads, donaciae (veritable bounding shells), of staircases, and red helmet-shells, angel-wings, and many others produced by this inexhaustible ocean.

20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Verne, Jules View in context

hammerhead playV2('en/US/dg/dgdtdhslskdosydnd7dod3h5h5');playV2('en/UK/dg/dgdtdhslskdosydnd7dod3h5h5')

hammerhead