I. hit 1 S1 W2 /hɪt/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense and past participle hit , present participle hitting )
[ Date: 1000-1100 ; Language: Old Norse ; Origin: hitta 'to find, hit' ]
1 . TOUCH SOMEBODY/SOMETHING HARD [transitive] to touch someone or something quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He raised the hammer and hit the bell.
hit somebody/something with something
The robbers hit him over the head with a baseball bat.
2 . CRASH INTO SOMETHING [transitive] to move into something or someone quickly and with force:
The tanks exploded as the plane hit the ground.
He was hit by a car.
3 . HURT YOURSELF [transitive] to move a part of your body quickly against something accidentally, causing pain SYN bang :
The ceiling’s low, so be careful you don’t hit your head.
hit something on/against something
She slipped and hit her head on the sidewalk.
4 . SPORT [transitive]
a) if you hit a ball or other object, you make it move forward quickly by hitting it with a ↑ bat , stick etc SYN strike :
Hit the ball as hard as you can.
b) to get points by hitting a ball in a game such as ↑ baseball or ↑ cricket :
Last year, Griffey hit 49 home runs.
5 . PRESS [transitive] informal to press a part in a machine, car, etc to make it work:
Maria hit the brakes just in time.
6 . ATTACK [transitive] to attack something or wound someone with a bomb, bullet etc:
Our ship was badly hit and sank within minutes.
A second shot hit her in the back.
The bomb failed to hit its target.
7 . AFFECT BADLY [intransitive and transitive] if something bad hits a place or a person, it suddenly happens and affects people badly:
The village has been hit by a devastating drought.
Hurricane Louis is expected to hit at the weekend.
be badly/severely/hard hit
The company has been hard hit by the drop in consumer confidence.
The south of the country is the worst hit by the recession.
8 . HAVE PROBLEMS [transitive] to experience trouble, problems etc
hit a snag/problems/a bad patch etc
My father hit a bad patch, he had to sell the house.
9 . REACH A LEVEL/NUMBER [transitive] to reach a particular level or number:
Sales have hit the 1 million mark.
hit a peak/an all-time high etc
Earnings hit a peak in the early 1980s.
hit rock-bottom/an all-time low etc
Oil prices have hit rock-bottom.
10 . REALIZE [transitive] if a fact hits you, you suddenly realize its importance and feel surprised or shocked:
It’s impossible to pinpoint a moment when it hit me that I was ‘a success’.
He was gone before they knew what had hit them (=realized what had happened) .
11 . SMELL/SIGHT ETC [transitive] if a smell or sight hits you, you suddenly smell or see it:
The smell of stale smoke hit him as he entered.
12 . ARRIVE [transitive] informal to arrive at a place:
They hit the main road two kilometres further on.
hit town American English :
I’ll look for work as soon as I hit town.
13 . hit the road/trail informal to begin a journey
14 . hit the shops/streets if a product hits the shops, it becomes available to buy:
I managed to get a copy of the book before it hit the shops.
15 . hit the headlines to be reported widely on television, in newspapers etc:
The couple hit the headlines last year when their relationship broke down.
16 . hit the bottle informal to start drinking too much alcohol regularly:
After his marriage failed, he hit the bottle big time.
17 . hit the dirt/the deck informal to fall to the ground in order to avoid something dangerous:
My first instinct was to hit the dirt.
18 . hit a (brick) wall informal to suddenly not be able to make any progress:
I felt I’d hit a wall with my playing.
19 . hit the buffers/skids informal if a plan, project etc hits the buffers, it fails:
Croft’s comeback hit the skids yesterday when she lost in the quarter-finals.
20 . hit somebody when they are down informal to upset or harm someone when they are already defeated
21 . hit somebody where it hurts informal to do something that you know will upset someone in the most damaging way:
Hit your husband where it hurts – in his wallet!
22 . hit it off (with somebody) informal if two people hit it off, they like each other as soon as they meet:
I knew you’d hit it off with Mike.
23 . hit the big time ( also hit it big American English ) informal to suddenly become very famous, successful, and rich:
The 25-year-old painter hopes to hit it big in New York.
24 . hit the ground running to start doing something successfully without any delay:
Law graduates are expected to hit the ground running.
25 . hit the jackpot
a) to win a lot of money
b) to have a big success:
Owens hit the jackpot in his first professional game with the Cowboys.
26 . hit the nail on the head informal used to say that what someone has said is exactly right:
You’ve hit the nail on the head there, David.
27 . hit home
a) if a remark, criticism etc about you hits home, you realize that it is true:
Graham didn’t reply, but she could see her words had hit home.
b) if a blow or kick hits home, it hits the thing it is aimed at
28 . hit the spot informal to have exactly the good effect that you wanted, especially when you are hungry or thirsty
29 . hit the roof/ceiling informal to be very angry:
Ranieri returned, saw the mess, and hit the roof.
30 . hit the sack ( also hit the hay American English ) informal to go to bed
⇨ the shit hits the fan at ↑ shit 2 (17), ⇨ hit/strike paydirt at ↑ paydirt
• • •
THESAURUS
■ to hit someone
▪ hit to hit someone quickly and hard with your hand, a stick etc:
He hit him hard in the stomach.
|
I don’t like to see people hitting a dog.
▪ beat to hit someone deliberately many times, especially very hard:
The girl had been beaten to death.
|
He was beating the donkey with a stick.
▪ strike written to hit someone with your hand or a weapon. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
Her husband struck her twice across the face.
|
Police say that the man had been struck on the head.
▪ punch to hit someone hard with your closed hand, especially in a fight:
I punched him on the nose.
|
She was screaming and punching him with her fists.
▪ thump /θʌmp/ informal to punch someone very hard:
Sometimes I just want to thump him.
▪ beat somebody up to hurt someone badly in a violent attack, by hitting them many times:
If I tell the police, they'll beat me up.
|
He had been beaten up and tortured with lighted cigarettes.
▪ slap to hit someone with your open hand, especially because you are angry with them:
They had a big row and she ended up slapping him.
▪ spank ( also smack especially British English ) to hit someone, especially a child, with your open hand in order to punish them:
Should a parent ever smack a child?
|
I don’t agree with smacking.
|
In those days, children were spanked if they behaved badly.
■ to hit something
▪ hit :
Jack hit the ball and it flew over the fence
▪ knock to hit a door or window with your closed hand in order to attract the attention of the people inside:
Someone was knocking on the door.
|
I knocked loudly but no one came.
▪ strike written to hit a surface. Strike is more formal than hit and is mainly used in written English:
The ball struck the side of the goal.
▪ whack /wæk/ informal to hit something very hard:
Edmonds whacked the ball into the air.
▪ bash to hit something hard, especially in a way that causes damage:
The police had to bash the door down to get in.
▪ tap to gently hit something with your fingers, often in order to attract someone’s attention:
I tapped him on the shoulder.
|
I heard someone tapping on the window.
▪ rap to knock quickly or hit something several times:
He rapped the table with his pen to bring the meeting to order.
|
Two police officers rapped on the door at 7 o'clock in the morning.
▪ bang to suddenly hit something hard, in a way that makes a loud noise:
Her father banged his fist down on the table angrily.
|
The door suddenly banged shut.
▪ pound written to hit something many times with a lot of force:
I could hear the sea pounding on the rocks.
|
She pounded on the door and shouted wildly.
▪ hammer written to hit something quickly many times making a loud continuous noise:
The rain was hammering on the roof.
|
A crowd of people were outside hammering on the door angrily.
■ to hit something accidentally
▪ hit :
I’ve got a bad bruise where I hit my leg against the table.
|
The car hit a tree.
▪ bump to hit a part of your body against something, especially because you do not see or notice it:
Careful you don’t bump your head – the ceiling’s very low.
▪ bang/bash to hit something hard, so that you hurt yourself or damage something:
He banged into the car in front.
|
I bashed my knee climbing over a gate.
|
She fell and bashed her chin on the ground.
▪ stub to hit your toe against something and hurt it:
I stubbed my toe on the piano leg.
hit back phrasal verb
to attack or criticize a person or group that has attacked or criticized you SYN retaliate
hit back at
The actress hit back at claims that she had threatened a member of staff.
hit back with
United were a goal down, but hit back with an equalizer.
hit back by doing something
He hit back by calling his critics ‘lazy’.
hit on somebody/something phrasal verb
1 . ( also hit upon something ) to have an idea or discover something suddenly or unexpectedly SYN come up with :
Then we hit on the idea of asking viewers to donate money over the Net.
2 . American English informal to talk to someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them:
Dave has hit on most of the women in the department.
hit out phrasal verb
to try to hit someone:
When he felt someone grab him, he hit out wildly.
hit out at somebody/something phrasal verb
( also hit out against somebody/something ) to express strong disapproval of someone or something SYN attack :
The bishop hit out at the government’s policy on the homeless.
hit somebody up for something phrasal verb American English spoken
to ask someone for money:
Did he hit you up for cash again?
hit somebody with something phrasal verb informal
1 . to tell someone something interesting, exciting, or shocking:
The next morning, Steve hit me with the truth.
2 . American English to punish or try to harm someone by doing something that will cause problems for them:
The next day, we found they’d hit us with a lawsuit.
II. hit 2 S3 W3 BrE AmE noun [countable]
1 . SUCCESSFUL something such as a film, play, song etc that is very popular and successful
a hit single/show/record etc
the hit musical ‘Phantom of the Opera’
a big/smash/number 1 etc hit
the Beatles’ greatest hits
Which band had a hit with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’?
be a hit with somebody (=be liked by them)
It’s hoped the new museum will be a big hit with families.
2 . HIT SOMETHING an occasion when something that is aimed at something else touches it, reaches it, or damages it:
Our ship took a direct hit and sank.
3 . COMPUTER
a) an occasion when someone visits a website:
The site had 2,000 hits in the first week.
b) a result of a computer search, especially on the Internet:
thousands of irrelevant hits
4 . take a hit to be badly affected in some way:
The region's economy will take a hit if the airbase is closed.
5 . informal a feeling of pleasure obtained from taking an illegal drug
6 . informal a murder that has been arranged to happen
⇨ ↑ hit man
• • •
THESAURUS
■ something that is popular
▪ bestseller a book that a lot of people buy:
His prize-winning book ‘A Year in Provence’ became an international bestseller.
▪ blockbuster a film that a lot of people watch, especially an exciting film:
a Hollywood blockbuster
|
a blockbuster movie
▪ hit something such as a song, show, or film which is very popular and successful:
The band played all their old hits.
|
The film was a box-office hit (=a lot of people went to see it at the cinema) .
|
She stars in ABC’s hit show ‘Desperate Housewives’.
▪ sell-out a concert, sports event etc which so many people want to see that all the tickets are sold:
The concert was a sell-out.
|
the band’s sell-out tour of the US
▪ cult movie/band/figure etc a film, band, person etc that has become very popular and fashionable with a particular group of people:
a cult TV programme
▪ craze something that suddenly becomes popular, so that a lot of people do it, buy it etc:
the latest dance craze that has been sweeping the US
|
the craze for ultra expensive designer jeans
▪ fad informal something that is very popular for a short time – used about something that you disapprove of, which you do not think will last for very long:
Most diets are just fads.
|
I think it’s a passing fad.