English
hit
see also: HIT, Hit
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English hitten, from Old English hittan, from Old Norse hitta, from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd-.

Cognate with Icelandic hitta, Danish hitte, Latin caedō, Albanian qit.

Verb

hit (hits, present participle hitting; simple past and past participle hit)

  1. (heading, physical) To strike.
    1. (transitive) To administer a blow to, directly or with a weapon or missile.
      One boy hit the other.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC ↗:
        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.
      • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 15]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC ↗:
        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 […]
    2. (transitive) To come into contact with forcefully and suddenly.
      The ball hit the fence.
      • 1726 October 27, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver's Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC ↗, part II (A Voyage to Brobdingnag):
        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.
    3. (intransitive) To strike against something.
      • 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, →OCLC ↗:
        If bodies be extension alone, […] how can they move and hit one against another?
    4. (transitive) To activate a button or key by pressing and releasing it.
      Hit the Enter key to continue.
    5. (transitive, slang) To kill a person, usually on the instructions of a third party.
      Hit him tonight and throw the body in the river.
      • 1973, Mario Puzo, Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather Part II (screenplay, second draft)
        FREDO: Mikey, why would they ever hit poor old Frankie Five-Angels? I loved that ole sonuvabitch.
    6. (transitive, military) To attack, especially amphibiously.
      If intelligence had been what it should have been, I don't think we'd ever have hit that island.
    7. (figurative, ambitransitive) To affect someone, as if dealing a blow to that person.
      Their coffee really hits the spot.
      I used to listen to that song all the time, but it hits different(ly) now.
  2. (transitive) To manage to touch (a target) in the right place.
    I hit the jackpot.
    Antonyms: miss
  3. (transitive, colloquial) To switch on.
    Antonyms: cut, kill
    Somebody's been here! Hit the lights!
  4. (transitive, music, informal) To commence playing.
    I'd love to hear your band play.
    Hit it boys!
  5. (transitive, colloquial) To briefly visit.
    We hit the grocery store on the way to the park.
  6. (transitive, informal) To encounter an obstacle or other difficulty.
    You'll hit some nasty thunderstorms if you descend too late.
    We hit a lot of traffic coming back from the movies.
  7. (heading) To attain, to achieve.
    1. (transitive, informal) To reach or achieve.
      The movie hits theaters in December.
      The temperature could hit 110°F tomorrow.
      We hit Detroit at one in the morning but kept driving through the night.
    2. (intransitive) To meet or reach what was aimed at or desired; to succeed, often by luck.
      • 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, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:
        And oft it hits / Where hope is coldest and despair most fits.
      • 1733, [Jonathan Swift], On Poetry: A Rapsody, Dublin, London: […] [R. Fleming] [a]nd sold by J. Huggonson, […], →OCLC ↗, page 3 ↗, lines 1–2:
        All Human Race wou’d fain be Wits, / And Millions miſs, for one that hits.
    3. To guess; to light upon or discover.
      • 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, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene i]:
        Thou hast hit it.
      • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto XLVI, page 69 ↗:
        And we shall sit at endless feast,
        ⁠Enjoying each the other’s good;
        ⁠What vaster dream can hit the mood
        Of Love on earth?
  8. (transitive) To affect negatively.
    The economy was hit by a recession.  The hurricane hit his fishing business hard.
  9. (metaphorically) To attack.
  10. (heading, games) To make a play.
    1. (transitive, cards) In blackjack, to deal a card to.
      Hit me.
    2. (intransitive, baseball) To come up to bat.
      Jones hit for the pitcher.
    3. (backgammon) To take up, or replace by a piece belonging to the opposing player; said of a single unprotected piece on a point.
  11. (transitive, computing, programming) To use; to connect to.
    The external web servers hit DBSRV7, but the internal web server hits DBSRV3.
  12. (transitive, US, slang) To have sex with.
    I'd hit that!
  13. (transitive, US, slang) To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana.
  14. (transitive, bodybuilding) (of an exercise) to affect, to work a body part.
    This is another great exercise which hits the long head.
  15. (transitive, bodybuilding) to work out
    With that said, the group hitting their legs just once a week still made gains.
Synonyms Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “manage to touch in the right place”): miss
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

hit (plural hits)

  1. A blow; a punch; a striking against; the collision of one body against another; the stroke that touches anything.
    • 1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fourth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC ↗:
      So he the fam'd Cilician fencer prais'd, / And, at each hit, with wonder seem'd amaz'd.
    The hit was very slight.
  2. Something very successful, such as a song, film, or video game, that receives widespread recognition and acclaim.
  3. (figuratively) A blow; a calamitous or damaging occurrence.
    His reputation took a hit when the new information came to light.
  4. An attack on a location, person or people.
  5. A collision of a projectile with the target.
    1. In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
  6. (computing, Internet) A match found by searching a computer system or search engine
  7. (Internet) A measured visit to a web site, a request for a single file from a web server.
    My site received twice as many hits after being listed in a search engine.
  8. An approximately correct answer in a test set.
  9. (baseball) The complete play, when the batter reaches base without the benefit of a walk, error, or fielder’s choice.
    The catcher got a hit to lead off the fifth.
  10. (colloquial) A dose of an illegal or addictive drug.
    Where am I going to get my next hit?
  11. A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.
  12. (dated) A peculiarly apt expression or turn of thought; a phrase which hits the mark.
    a happy hit
    • 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC ↗:
      What late he called a blessing, now was wit, / And God's good providence, a lucky hit.
  13. (backgammon) A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point.
  14. (backgammon) A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “a punch”): miss
  • (antonym(s) of “success”): flop, turkey
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Adjective

hit (not comparable)

  1. Very successful.
    The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.
Etymology 2

From Middle English hit, from Old English hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- ("this, here").

Pronoun
  1. (dialectal) it.
    • 1998, Nancy A. Walker, What's so funny?: humor in American culture:
      Now, George, grease it good, an' let hit slide down the hill hits own way.
HIT
Noun

hit (plural hits)

  1. Acronym of high-intensity interval training
  2. Acronym of high-intensity training
  3. Abbreviation of hyperspectral imaging technique or Abbreviation of hyper-spectral imaging technique
  4. Acronym of human intelligence task
  5. Abbreviation of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia
  6. Abbreviation of herd immunity threshold
Related terms
  • HI hyperspectral imaging or hyper-spectral imaging
  • HIIT
  • HSD hyper-spectral data or hyperspectral data
Hit
Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish هيت and Arabic هيت.

Proper noun
  1. A city in Iraq
Translations

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