Definition of "hit"

(heading, physical) To strike.

1. (transitive) To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. Indeed, a nail filed sharp is not of much avail as an arrowhead; you must have it barbed, and that was a little beyond our skill.

     1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […]

   • He tried to hit me but I dodged the blow and went out to plot revenge.

     1922-1927, Frank Harris, My Life and Loves

   • Bello: (Shouts) Good, by the rumping jumping general! That's the best bit of news I heard these six weeks. Here, don't keep me waiting, damn you! (He slaps her face)Bello: (Whimpers) You're after hitting me. I'll tell […]

     1922 February, James Joyce, “Episode 15”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […]

   • I hunted him for half a hour, aiming to learn him to hit a man with a table-leg and then run, but I didn't find him.

     1934, Robert E. Howard, The Slugger's Game

2. (transitive) To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • a dozen apples, each of them near as large as a Bristol barrel, came tumbling about my ears; one of them hit me on the back as I chanced to stoop, and knocked me down flat on my face.

     1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag)

   • Meanwhile the street boys kept up a shower of mud balls, many of which hit the Doctor, while the rest were distributed upon his assailants.

     1882, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Doctor Grimshawe's Secret: A romance

3. (intransitive) To strike against something.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • If bodies be extension alone, […] how can they move and hit one against another?

     a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706

4. (transitive) To activate a button or key by pressing and releasing it.  examples

5. (transitive, slang) To kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party.  quotations

   Quotations

   • FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch.

     1973, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II (screenplay, second draft)

6. (transitive, military) To attack, especially amphibiously.

7. (figurative, transitive, intransitive) To affect someone, as if dealing a blow to that person.  examples

(transitive) To manage to touch (a target) in the right place.  examples

(transitive, colloquial) To switch on.  examples

(transitive, colloquial) To briefly visit.  examples

(transitive, informal) To encounter an obstacle or other difficulty.  examples

(heading) To attain, to achieve.

1. (transitive, informal) To reach or achieve.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And her success with Glover, a product of the National Lottery-funded Sporting Giants talent identification programme, will also spark relief among British officials who were starting to fret a little about hitting their target of equalling fourth in the medal table from Beijing.

     2012 August 1, Owen Gibson, “London 2012: rowers Glover and Stanning win Team GB's first gold medal”, in Guardian Unlimited‎

2. (intransitive) To meet or reach what was aimed at or desired; to succeed, often by luck.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And oft it hits / Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.

     c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

   • All Human Race wou'd fain be Wits, / And Millions miſs, for one that hits.

     1733, [Jonathan Swift], On Poetry: A Rapsody, Dublin, London: […] [R. Fleming] [a]nd sold by J. Huggonson, […], page 3, lines 1–2

3. To guess; to light upon or discover.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Thou hast hit it.

     c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene i]

(transitive) To affect negatively.  examples

(figuratively) To attack.  quotations  examples

(heading, games) To make a play.

1. (transitive, card games) In blackjack, to deal a card to.  examples

2. (intransitive, baseball) To come up to bat.  examples

3. (backgammon) To take up, or replace by a piece belonging to the opposing player; said of a single unprotected piece on a point.  examples

(transitive, computing, programming) To use; to connect to.  examples

(transitive, US, slang) To have sex with.

(transitive, US, slang) To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana.  quotations

(transitive, bodybuilding) (of an exercise) to affect, to work a body part.  examples

(transitive, bodybuilding) to work out  examples

A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.  quotations  examples

Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.  quotations  examples

An attack on a location, person or people.  examples

A collision of a projectile with the target.  quotations

1. In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.  examples

(computing, Internet) A match found by searching a computer system or search engine  examples

(Internet) A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.  examples

An approximately correct answer in a test set.  examples

(baseball) The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice.  examples

(colloquial) A dose of an illegal or addictive drug.  examples

A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.  quotations  examples

(dated) A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark.  quotations  examples

(backgammon) A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point.  examples

(backgammon) A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.  examples

Very successful.  examples

(dialectal) It.  quotations  examples