| 释义 |
▪ I. hit, v.|hɪt|
Pa. tense and pa. pple. hit. Forms: 1 hyttan, 3–6 hitte, hytte, 4 hutte, hete, 4–5 hyt, 4–7 hitt, 5 (3rd sing.) hit, 4– hit. pa. tense 1 hytte, 3–4 hutte, 3–5 hitte, (4 hite), 4– hit, (4–5 hitt, 5 hyt(te, 6–7 hot, 6–9 Sc. and north. hat, 7 hatt). pa. pple. 4 y-hyt, 5 hyt, yhytte, 5–hit, (dial. 5 Sc. hittin, 6– hitten, hutten, 6 hot).
[Late OE. hyttan = ON. hitta to hit upon, light upon, meet with, Sw. hitta, Da. hitte to hit, find.
App. from Norse: cf. Branch II; but the senses under I seem to have been developed at an early date in Eng. from the notion ‘get at, reach’.]
I. To get at or reach with a blow, to strike.
1. a. trans. To reach or get at with a blow or a missile; to give a blow to (something aimed at); to strike with aim or intent. When the success of the actor is the prominent notion, its opposite is to miss; when the effect upon the object is prominent, the meaning tends to be ‘to strike sensibly, so as to be felt’; cf. sense 8.
c1205Lay. 26060 Þe eotend smat after biliue & noht hine ne hutte. Ibid. 27680 He..þene admiral hitte mid smærten ane dunte. 13..K. Alis. 2155 Ac Alisaundre hutte him, certe, Thorugh livre, and longe, and heorte. c1350Will. Palerne 3621 No man þat he hit miȝth him withstonde. 1387Trevisa Higden vi. xxix, Atte laste Harold was yhyt wyþ an arewe & loste hys on ye. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) v. x. 101 Pacyence hitte Ire in the helme that it flewe a feld. 1460Lybeaus Disc. 273 Was he never yhytte? 1484Caxton Fables of æsop iv. ix, Thow shalt hytte hym with thy swerd and kylle hym. 1530Palsgr. 585/2, I hytte a thyng that I throwe at. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 3 Phavorinus the Philosopher..did hit a yong man over the Thumbes verie handsomely, for usyng..over straunge woordes. c1560A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 36 Sym said he sett nocht by hiss forss, Bot hecht he sowld be hittin. 1584R. Scot Discov. Witchcr. xii. xv. (1886) 206 A viper smitten or hot with a reed is astonied. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 51 O for a stone-bow to hit him in the eye. a1605Montgomerie Misc. Poems xxxiii. 17 He shot and hat me on the breist. 1743Broughton's Rules Boxing in Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §1221 No person is to hit his adversary when he is down. 1828Craven Dial., Hat, præt. of hit. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 193, I had hit the tigress hard as she sprang up. 1885Law Times 9 May 29/2 The plaintiff..fired at him, but did not hit him.
fig.1611Middleton & D. Roaring G. Epil., Some dispraised The haire..Some hit her o're the lippes, mislik'd their colour.
b. Cricket. (a) To strike (the ball) with the bat: hence with the bowler as object. (b) to hit off, to make up (a number of runs) by hitting.
1857Hughes Tom Brown ii. viii, When you or Raggles hit a ball hard away for six. 1865F. Lillywhite Guide to Cricketers 86 Messrs. Tritton and Wright hit off 25 in 20 minutes. 1883Daily Tel. 15 May 2/7 Dr. Grace hit Hill square for 4. 1884Pall Mall G. 14 Aug. 9/1 Mr. Hornby hit each bowler twice for 4. 1888Daily News 15 Sept. 3/4 The Englishmen had only 33 to get to win and this was hit off in twenty-five minutes for the loss of one wicket. 1892Ibid. 1 Sept. 4/5 Yorkshire..in the time remaining..hit off 56 of these for the loss of two batsmen.
2. absol. or intr. To give a blow or blows; to strike with something in hand or with a missile.
a1400Morte Arth. 1149 Arthur..hittez ever in the hulke up to þe hiltez. 1581Mulcaster Positions xxxviii. (1887) 178 Who so shootes at the like, in hope to hit, may sooner misse. 1669Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. 57 Take aim to the Mark you would shoot to, and that is the way to hit. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 25 Throw a Dart or long Stick, with which they'll hit within the compass of a farthing a mighty distance. 1850S. G. Osborne Gleanings 112 There were..lads..hitting at stones with hammers. 1870D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §4038 (Boxing) He was..an excellent ‘stopper’, hitting with his right and stopping with his left.
3. trans. Of a missile or moving body: To come upon with forcible impact; to strike.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Cristofore 581 Sowne ane erow in þe ee hyme hit. 1628Digby Voy. Medit. (1868) 77 He..shott 7 peeces att my pinnace, all which hatt her. 1694A. de la Pryme Diary (Surtees) 40 In at the window..[it] was flung..and had like to have hitten Mr. Walker on the head. 1700S. L. tr. Fryke's Voy. E. Ind. 354 With an Elligar..that sticks in the Fish it hits. 1828Scott F.M. Perth xi, My pellet..I trust, it did not hit your eye.
fig.1513Douglas æneis v. iii. 90 The meikle hillis Bemys agane, hit with the brute so schill is. 1847Tennyson Princ. v. 44 The sun, that now..hit the Northern hills.
4. absol. or intr.
a. To come with forcible impact (against, upon, etc.).
c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiii. 58 Þe whilk brand efter⁓wardes hitt on þe erthe and stakk still þerin. 1530Palsgr. 585/2, I went darkeling and dyd hytte agaynst a doore. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 137 When we endeavour to shun one..Sand-bank, we hit against another. a1704Locke (J.), If bodies be extension alone, how can they move and hit one against another? 1860Tyndall Glac. i. xxv. 190 The little snow granules hit spitefully against the skin. Mod. The shot hit in front of the head high up.
b. To strike exactly or at the proper point. Usually in phr. to hit on so many cylinders: (of an internal-combustion engine) to be running properly on so many cylinders; hence, to be hitting on all four or six (cylinders), to be running or working perfectly; fig. to be in good trim or form.
1912[see cylinder n. 6]. 1928Sat. Even Post 10 Mar. 127/1 Modern science offers you a natural means to keep you ‘hitting on all six’—every minute of the day.
5. trans. To deliver (a blow, stroke, etc.).
a1400Morte Arth. 3687 Archers of Inglande..Hittis thourghe þe harde stele fulle hertly dynnttis. c1400Destr. Troy 5937 He..Hit on his hede a full hard dynt. 1460Lybeaus Disc. 1631 Ayder yn other scheld hytte Strokes grymly greete. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. B. I. 122, I lifted the stick and pretended to hit at it a back-handed blow.
6. With two objectives. to hit any one a blow: to strike him with a blow, to give him a blow.
1597T. Beard Theatre God's Judgem. i. xxi. (1631) 122 One of his seruants..hot him such a knock with a pistol that he killed him therewith. 1599J. Minsheu Dial. Span. & Eng. (1623) 18, I hit my selfe a blow..in this shin bone. 1763C. Johnston Reverie I. 135 Hitting him a plump in the bread-basket. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 23 Hitting the poor Venus another..blow.
7. trans. To knock (a part of the body) against or on something.
1639T. Brugis tr. Camus' Mor. Relat. 249 [He] hit his nose so hard against the ground, that he lay quite stund with the fall. 1665Hooke Microgr. 178 It would swim to and fro..but would often hit itself against the rocks or stones. Mod. In the dark he hit his foot against the step.
8. fig.
a. To affect the conscience, feelings, comfort, prosperity, etc. of (any one) in a way analogous to physical hitting; to affect sensibly, painfully, or injuriously; to smite, wound, hurt. to hit home: cf. home adv. 5.
c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, George 110 Sad sorow sa cane hyme hit. 1513Douglas æneis iv. xi. 22 Now art thou hit with frawart weirdis vnkynd. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 138 A merie man can want no matter to hitte hym home. c1565Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (1728) 234 (Jam.) The chancellour..hearing the grose and ruid speach..thought he hat thame ovir near. 1620Sanderson Serm. (1681) I. 142 Christ hitteth him home, and presseth upon his particular corruption. 1678R. Barclay Apol. Quakers x. §17. 307 This Objection hitteth not us at all. 1735Pope Donne Sat. iv. 232 Dear Countess! you have charms all hearts to hit! 1861Bright Sp. India 19 Mar., The noble Lord felt himself hit. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. II. xliii. 134 There is always a desire to hit companies. 1938Times 30 Apr. 11/4 Mr. Roosevelt says that the one lesson in events abroad that has ‘hit home’ is that ‘the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself’.
b. to be hard (sometimes heavily, badly) hit: to be severely or deeply affected by something; esp. to be seriously smitten by some adversity. (Cf. sense 1, quot. 1879.)
1854Lever Dodd Fam. Abr. xiv. 110, I got ‘hit hard’ at the Brussels races, lost twelve hundred at écarté. 1888Bryce Amer. Commw. III. xc. 229 Stocks had now fallen, and everybody was hard hit. 1891N. Gould Doub. Event 3 A friend of his had been hit heavily over a certain race. 1893L'pool Daily Post 1 Jan., Liverpool was badly hit last year by the fall in cotton.
c. To criticize, make fun of or ridicule (a person or thing): sometimes const. at.
1843Punch 23 Sept. 131/2 Instead of an outburst of enthusiasm at the line ‘Confound their politics’, the waltzer is supposed to execute a pirouette, which is supposed to hit at our wavering propensities. 1936S.P.E. Tract xlv. 190 The member of a newspaper staff who is responsible for writing the headlines prefers..hit..to criticize. 1945Baker Austral. Lang. vi. 121 A man who has acquired a strong dislike of another person..hits or..criticizes him. 1969Pen IX. 47 He could supply her with a list of synonyms for the verb ‘savage’, i.e...hit at.
d. To occur to (a person); to affect in a particular way, to appear to; to have an impact on.
1891Kipling Light that Failed v. 78 Look at their faces. It hits 'em. 1914G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. xxx. 175 Lucky it hit him to buy the house and send that last five thousand. 1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd v. 68, I wanted to see how it would hit you. 1916G. B. Shaw Doctors' Delusions (1932) 105 Their worthlessness would not hit us in the face as the worthlessness of Dr Saleeby's figures does. 1921Galsworthy To Let ii. xi. 212 Their manners now really quite hit you in the eye. 1937Even. News 28 Jan. 7/1 (headline) Finding best colours for crossing that will ‘hit the eye’. 1958Listener 16 Oct. 600/2 This book..was published about two years ago, and it has not yet hit the architectural profession.
e. not to know (or to wonder) what hit one: to be killed; to be surprised or disconcerted.
1923J. Miner Jack Miner & Birds viii. 27 He came to examine the decoys near me and while his attention was rivetted on them I raised up and fired, and he never knew what hit him. 1961Listener 19 Oct. 589/1 Many of our less efficient firms would be hurt so hard that they could never quite know what had hit them. 1963Observer 10 Feb. 24/3 They must have wondered what hit them in Paris last week, for almost every female member of the British Press made a dead set for the hosiery counter at Galeries Lafayette.
f. fig. to hit for six [cf. sense 1 b (a)]: to demolish an argument, scheme, etc., to vanquish; to deal a severe blow to.
1937Times Lit. Suppl. 1 May 343/4 Lawrence..was chiefly concerned to hit swots and cads and foreigners for six. 1957I. Cross God Boy (1958) xiii. 109, I had really hit her for a six and made her change her tune properly. 1961Oxf. Mag. 15 June 413/1 Mr. Sisam, the Secretary, hit most of the questioners for six. 1967Lancet 1 July 41/1, I began to wonder if my massive and inexpert administration of chloroform had not hit his liver—perhaps not inappropriately—for six.
g. To give or administer a narcotic drug to (a person). Also intr. slang (orig. U.S.).
[1949N. Algren Man with Golden Arm 76 It [sc. a narcotic injection] hit all right. It hit the heart like a run⁓away locomotive, it hit like a falling wall. ]1953W. Burroughs Junkie (1972) xiv. 144 ‘Hit me, will you, Ike?’ Old Ike poked a gentle finger along the vein holding the dropper poised between thumb and fingers. 1959― Naked Lunch 67 The addict regards his body as an instrument to absorb the medium in which he lives, evaluates his tissue with the cold hands of a horse dealer. ‘No use trying to hit there.’ 1970N.Y. Times 23 Feb. 26 How did he become an addict? ‘You mean, who hit me first? My friend, Johnny.’
h. To kill; to rob. slang (orig. U.S.).
1955People (Austral.) 19 Oct. 13/2 Dutch bellowed, ‘Dewey's gotta go. He's gotta be hit.’ 1968N. Giovanni in A. Chapman New Black Voices (1972) 250, I have been robbed It looked like they knew That i was to be hit They took my tv My two rings. 1972D. E. Westlake Cops & Robbers (1973) xvi. 247 If they're cops, maybe it's not such a good idea to have them hit. 1973Publishers Weekly 29 Jan. 229/2 A professional killer who has ‘hit’ 38 victims.
9. To cast, throw. Obs. exc. dial.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 172 Þenne Clement þe Cobelere caste of his cloke, And Hikke þe Ostiler hutte his hod aftur. 1862H. Kingsley Ravenshoe xlii. (D.), Everthing past use was hit, as they say in Berkshire, out into the street.
10. Backgammon. To ‘take up’ (a man). to hit a blot: to throw a number which enables the player to take up an unguarded man, that is, one left single and alone on any point in his adversary's tables. Hence fig. to discover a failing or a weak point. (See blot n.2)
1599Porter Angry Wom. Abingd. in Hazl. Dodsley VII. 276 Mrs. Gour. Look ye, mistress, now I hit ye. Mrs. Bar. Why, ay, you never use to miss a blot, Especially when it stands so fair to hit..I hot your man. 1691T. H[ale] Acc. New Invent. p. xxxviii, And he there hits a blot in the Papal Tenets that was never hit before. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 175 Suppose I leave two Blots, either of which cannot be hit but by double Dice. 1870Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle 144 If you are obliged to leave a blot, by having recourse to the Calculations for hitting it, you will find the chances for and against you..Never fail spreading your men, either to take a new point in your table, or to hit a man your adversary may happen to enter. 1889Spectator 14 Dec. 832 Mr. Morley has hit a blot in our policy.
II. To come upon, light upon, meet with, get at, attain to, reach one's aim, succeed, and the like.
This is the ON. sense; but with the exception of the single late OE. instance in 11, its exemplification in English as a whole is later.
11. trans. To come upon, light upon, meet with, get at, reach, find, esp. something aimed at.
a. with material object. Freq. in modern (esp. U.S.) colloquial use, to arrive at; also, to go to (a place), go upon (a course). Phr. to hit the trail (less commonly the grit, pike, road, etc.): to take the road, to get on the way, to go away.
a1075OE. Chron. (MS. D.) an. 1066 Ða com Harold..on unwær on þa Normenn, and hytte hi beᵹeondan Eoforwic, æt Steinford-brygge. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 256 Sayling Northwarde..we shall hitte those Islandes. c1532G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 908 To hitte or ouer⁓take, attaindre. 1621T. Williamson tr. Goulart's Wise Vieillard 25 So farre out of the way..that they can hardly hit the right way againe to the..citie of God. 1704Addison Italy (1733) 56 The Entrance is so difficult to hit. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. ii. 138 Egad, I can't hit the Joint. 1797Capt. Troubridge 25 July in Nicolas Nelson's Disp. (1845) II. 426 note, From the darkness of the night I did not immediately hit the Mole, the spot appointed to land at. 1852Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 195 As soon as I knew where to hit you with a letter. 1873W. F. Butler Wild North Land xviii. 208 In the morning ‘Twa-poos’, or the Three Thumbs, sets forth to look for a moose; he hits the trail and follows it. 1888in Amer. Speech (1962) XXXVII. 76 Hit the grit, get going; get out of here. 1888Detroit Free Press Oct. (Farmer), Professor Rose, who hit this town last spring, is around calling us a fugitive from justice. 1889Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang, Hit the flat, to (cowboys), to go out on the prairies. 1893P. H. Emerson On Eng. Lagoons xii. 40, I have been hitting the road something to get here quick. 1896Ade Artie xiv. 127 ‘A little more weather like this and we'll be hittin' the park,’ he observed. 1897Outing (U.S.) XXX. 374/1 Men can pass out the church door, shoulder their packs of general cussedness, and unconcernedly hit the trail to the lower [regions]. 1901S. E. White Westerners i. 7 Thought you wasn't no tenderfoot. Ever hit the trail? 1904Hartford Courant 25 June 6 The..convention, whose delegates were so summarily ordered to hit the pike by the national committee-men. 1907R. W. Service Songs of Sourdough (1908) 65 It lies with thee—the choice is thine, is thine, To hit the ties or drive thy auto-car. 1918C. E. Mulford Man fr. Bar-20 xiii. 131, I was a rich man until I hit town. 1925Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves v. 126 Jimmy Mundy..has come to save New York from itself; to force it—in his picturesque phrase—to hit the trail. 1925Z. A. Tilghman Dugout 70, I must hit the road. 1931‘D. Stiff’ Milk & Honey Route 207 Hitting the grit, to be forced off a fast moving train. 1932T. S. Eliot Sweeney Agonistes 18 We hit this town last night for the first time. 1948G. H. Johnston Death takes Small Bites ii. 54 Go down this corridor, up the stairway at the end, straight on until you hit the second court. 1950T. Longstaff This my Voyage v. 97 So on May 31st Mumm and I hit the trail once more. 1973Christian Sci. Monitor 14 Apr. B16/2 These two hit the road together, modern pilgrims making very little progress.
b. with immaterial object.
1555Eden Decades 309 To consyder howe they hytte the truthe sumtyme. 1581G. Pettie Guazzo's Civ. Conv. ii. (1586) 68 You have hit my meaning right. 1685Lady Russell Lett. I. xxi. 57, I cannot hit the names of the rest. 1782Priestley Corrupt. Chr. I. ii. 272 Other persons..were able..to hit the happy medium. 1866G. Macdonald Ann. Q. Neighb. iii. (1878) 37, I never could hit his way of talking to his parishioners.
c. to hit the hay, to go to bed. Also to hit the sack. slang (orig. U.S.).
1912Dialect Notes III. 578 Hit the hay, to go to bed. 1922S. Lewis Babbitt xix. 245 You probably want to hit the hay. 1930‘Sapper’ Finger of Fate 184 On those two nights we all hit the hay before midnight. 1943in J. J. Fahey Pacific War Diary (1963) i. 74, I hit the sack at 8 P.M. I slept under the stars on a steel ammunition box two feet wide. 1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) 93 Terry and I.. got ready to hit the sack. 1961A. Miller Misfits x. 98 Well, I don't know about you educated people, but us ignorant folks got to hit the sack.
d. to hit the bricks: (a) (see quot. 1950); (b) to go on strike. U.S. slang.
1931Amer. Speech VI. 439 Hit the bricks, to, to be released from prison. 1946Seafarers' Log 1 Feb. 4/3 When you hit the bricks in those days you didn't expect to come back aboard real soon. Ibid. 17 May 6/4 The seamen responded almost unanimously to the strike call with organized and unorganized seamen alike tying up the ships and hitting the bricks. 1950H. E. Goldin Dict. Amer. Underworld Lingo 97/2 Hit the bricks,..to be paroled, discharged, acquitted, or otherwise set free. ‘Hawk's got a flat bit..so he's gotta hit the bricks.’ 1964Time 2 Oct. 111 The United Auto Workers hit the bricks against giant General Motors.
12. intr. With upon, on († of), in same sense as 11. (With indirect passive.)
a1300Cursor M. 7152, I wat noght hu he on þam hitte. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Clement 836 Bot one þat place mycht nane of þame hyt. 1553T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 146 In readyng..he hit at length upon himself and the More. 1568V. Skinner tr. Montanus' Inquis. 17 a, So he can hit of the matter. 1609B. Jonson Sil. Wom. iv. ii, No, but I could hit of some things that thou wilt miss. 1705W. Bosman Guinea 34 The Means which they chiefly hit upon, and practised. 1715Vanbrugh Country Ho. ii. Wks. (Rtldg.) 464/1 Sure I shall hit of some way to get rid of this crew. 1764Reid Inquiry vi. §12 Like other facts, they are not to be hit upon by a happy conjecture. 1807P. Gass Jrnl. 132 We..crossed a large mountain and hit on the creek and small valley, which were wished for by our guide. 1874Sayce Compar. Philol. ii. 69 Hypothesis after hypothesis, until the right one is at length hit upon.
†13. intr. To attain the object aimed at or end intended; to ‘hit the mark’. Of events, etc.: To come to the desired end; to succeed; to come off as intended. Obs. or dial.
c1400Destr. Troy 2071 Thow se not þat sothely said ys of olde, And ofte happes to hit, qwo so hede tas. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 270 Hath all his ventures fail'd, what not one hit? 1668Sedley Mulb. Gard. Prol., The cruel critic and malicious wit, Who think themselves undone if a play hit. 1744–50W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. II. ii. 127 (E.D.S.) This pirky wheat is often sown after turneps..and generally hits well. 1842Akerman Wilts. Gloss. (E.D.S.) s.v., The apples hit well t'year.
14. trans. To attain to an exact imitation or representation of; to imitate exactly or to a nicety. Cf. hit off 25 c.
1602Narcissus (1893) 484 Harke how Jumball hitts it [a cry] right. 1611Shakes. Wint. T. v. i. 127 Your Fathers Image is so hit in you. 1623B. Jonson in Shakspere's Wks. To Rdr., O, could he but haue drawne his wit As well in brasse, as he hath hit His face. c1633Milton Arcades 77 If my inferior hand or voice could hit Inimitable sounds. 1712Addison Spect. No. 418 ⁋3 It is pleasant to look on the Picture of any Face, where the Resemblance is hit. 1808Wolcott (P. Pindar) One more Peep at R. Acad. Wks. 1812 V. 356 How dares thy hand, that cannot hit The features of a poor Tom tit, Attempt the Eagle's fury in its flight? 1842Motley Corr. (1889) I. iv. 119 One of the most difficult things in painting is to hit the exact colour of the human face.
15. To fall in with exactly; to suit, fit, be agreeable to.
c1580Sidney Ps. xl. iv, [I] sought with deedes thy will to hitt. 1601Holland Pliny I. 506 The dry marle, sorteth well with a moist soile; and the fatty, hitteth that which is dry and lean. 1632Milton Penseroso 14 Hail, divinest Melancholy, Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight. 1692Bentley Boyle Lect. ix. 327 All the Characters must hit and correspond one to another. 1766Goldsm. Vic. W. xvi, We did not immediately recollect an historical subject to hit us. 1850Tennyson In Mem. xlvii, What vaster dream can hit the mood Of Love on earth? 1884Church Bacon i. 20 In the hope..of hitting her taste on some lucky occasion.
†16. intr. To fall in suitably or exactly; to coincide; to square with, agree with. Obs.
1607Shakes. Timon iii. i. 6 A Guift I warrant. Why this hits right: I dreampt of a Siluer Bason and Ewre to night. 1699Bentley Phal. xi. 274 Plutarch..would never balk a good story though it did not exactly hit with Chronology. 1719De Foe Crusoe ii. i, The Scheme hit so exactly with my Temper. 1722― Col. Jack (1840) 133 Was there nothing in his case that hit with your own?
17. intr. To agree together. Obs. or dial.
1605Shakes. Lear i. i. 308 Pray you let vs sit [Qos. hit] together. 1758T. Nevile Imit. Hor. Ep. i. xviii. 131 Believe me, contraries will never hit; The fop avoid the clown, the dunce the wit. 1828Craven Dial., Hit, to agree. 1876Whitby Gloss., s.v., ‘We hit about it’, agreed... ‘Hae ye hitten on yet?’, come to an agreement.
III. To aim, direct one's aim or course.
†18. intr. To aim, seek, strive. Obs. rare.
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 132 Þe wyȝ..Hittez to haue ay more & more.
19. a. intr. To direct one's course, be directed; to pass, turn; to ‘strike’ out, in, in a particular direction. ? Now dial. and U.S.
13..E.E. Allit. P. C. 380 Of a hepe of askes he hitte in þe myddez. a1400–50Alexander 445 He sall hit with his hede in-to þe heghe est. c1400Destr. Troy 4671 Þai comyn to the cost..and þere hyt into hauyn. Ibid. 7242 Achilles also afterward rose, Hit on his horse, hurlit into fight. a1500Chester Pl. x. 275 Into Egypte till we hitte [E.E.T.S. hytt] The Angel will us leade. 1664Power Exp. Philos. 119 The Atoms of Fire, or Heat, which penetrate into the Bladder;..Why could they not hit out, as well as in, through the same pores? 1713Pope Guardian No. 40 ad fin., Both Spenser and Philips have hit into the same road with this old West Country Bard of ours. 1895T. Hardy in Harper's Mag. Mar. 568 I've seen her hit in and steer down the long slide on yonder pond. 1905R. Beach Pardners (1912) i. 24 We hit for camp on the run. Ibid. ii. 48 So me and ‘Kink’ Martin..hit west. 1916‘B. M. Bower’ Phantom Herd xiii. 218 When I hit for the land of orange blossoms and singing birds and sunshine.
b. rare. To go, pass. U.S.
1911H. S. Harrison Queed vii. 86 I've seen you hit by the window many's the time.
IV. Phrases.
20. to hit it.
a. To hit the mark; to guess the right thing; to make a correct conjecture.
1588Shakes. L.L.L. iv. i. 127 Thou canst not hit it my good man. 1591Florio 2nd Fruites 25 G. That is stake⁓money under the line, is it not so? T. Yea sir, you hitt it right. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. iii. 199 Guess again... A Girl then... You have hit it. 1890Boldrewood Col. Reformer (1891) 134 You've just hit it there.
b. (Now usually to hit it off.) To agree. Also more widely, to become friendly, to be on good terms.
1634Strafford Lett. I. 299 Would to God our master could hit it with that crown! 1668Sedley Mulb. Gard. i. i. Wks. 1722 II. 9 You and I shall never hit it. 1780F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 291 How do you and the great Mrs. Montague hit it off? 1844Alb. Smith Adv. Mr. Ledbury xxii. (1886) 66 The respective wives of these gentlemen never hit it exactly. 1861Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. xi, Tom did not venture to inquire for a day or two how the two hit it off together. 1863Trollope Rachel Ray II. xiv. 297, I am so happy..that you and he have hit it off. 1954T. S. Eliot Confid. Clerk i. 16 Mr. Kaghan is prejudiced. He's never hit it off with Lady Elizabeth.
c. To attain exactly to the point wanted; to strike the scent in hunting (also hit it off).
1704Steele Lying Lover i. (1747) 16 Not ev'ry open⁓handed Fellow hits it neither. 1710Prideaux Orig. Tithes ii. 52 To look through every circumstance necessary to be considered in the adjusting of this point so as exactly to hit it. 18..Rec. N. Devon Staghounds 65 (W. Som. Word-bk.) The hounds then hit it up the river. Ibid. 68 The hounds came to a check, and could never hit it off again.
d. To travel at speed. U.S.
1911J. C. Lincoln Cap'n Warren's Wards iii. 39 They nabbed us for speeding... Said we were hitting it at fifty an hour.
21. a. to hit the mark, hit the nail, hit the needle, hit the pin, hit the nail upon the head, usually fig.
c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 138 Now be myn trowthe ȝe hytte the pynne. 1530Proper Dyaloge (1863) 15 Thou hyttest the nayle upon the head For that is the thinge that they dreed. 1580Sidney Arcadia (1622) 305 Indeede she had hit the needle in that deuise. 1597Morley Introd. Mus. 75 That we commonly call hitting the eight on the face, when we come to an eight, and skip vp from it agayne to another perfect concord. a1613Overbury Charac., Amorist Wks. (1856) 57 To keep Cupid from hitting the blacke. 1680H. More Apocal. Apoc. 54 This Bow-man hat the mark, when the Emperour Constantine turned Christian. 1866Mrs. Gaskell Wives & Dau. (Tauchn.) I. 69 He was rash..hitting the nail on the head sometimes.
b. to hit one in the teeth: to reproach one (with a thing), throw it in one's teeth (see tooth).
22. a. hit or miss: Whether one hits or misses; at random, at haphazard, happy-go-lucky. (Cf. hitty-missy.) Also attrib. and subst.
1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 384 But hit or misse, Our proiects life this shape of sence assumes. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 115 Whose practise in Physick is nothing but the Countrey dance, call'd Hit or Misse. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 14 Do we all march towards Heaven hit or miss, and by guess? 1848in Amer. Speech (1935) X. 40/2 Hit-or-miss-carpet, a carpet woven from strips of old cloth sewed together. 1864Harper's Mag. June 60/1 My husband is Colonel of the Third Regiment in the Hit-or-Miss Brigade, United States Cavalry. 1873Ouida Pascarèl II. 42 It is not the happy-go-lucky hit-or-miss sort of thing that you may fancy. 1927J. Adams Errors in School 211 Hit-or-miss method. 1955A. L. Rowse Expansion Eliz. Eng. 399 They were impulsive, chancy, amateurish, very much hit-or-miss. 1959P. Bull I know Face vii. 114 It was much a hit-or-miss part. 1967Karch & Buber Offset Processes v. 168 Motor-driven lenses, or hit-or-miss methods involving tricky out-of-focus photographic and lighting techniques are used.
b. hit and miss = hit or miss. Also (with hyphens) attrib. and spec., as hit-and-miss governor, a type of governor used in internal-combustion engines which causes the engine to miss one or more explosions when the speed is too great; hit-and-miss ventilator (see quots.).
1897W. E. Barton Hero in Homespun 377 They ripped up the new hit-an'-miss carpet for horse blankets. 1897R. M. Stuart Simpkinsville 156 Takin' 'em hit and miss, we wouldn't know the diff'rence hardly. 1902A. C. Harmsworth et al. Motors viii. 162 Many of these engines have now the ordinary hit and miss exhaust governor as well. 1909Webster, Hit-and-miss ventilator, a window ventilator consisting of a perforated glass disk, lying flat against, and pivoted through its center to, a correspondingly perforated window. 1931Discovery Sept. 298/1 [Without these criteria] the procedure would be unnecessarily hit-and-miss. 1940Chambers's Techn. Dict. 417/2 Hit-and-miss ventilator, a ventilating device consisting of a slotted plate over which may be moved another slotted plate, so that the openings for access of air may be more or less restricted as required. 1955W. W. Denlinger Compl. Boston 156 Hit-and-miss, take-a-chance breedings are fewer. 1956G. Taylor Silver iii. 53 A simple pattern, often seen on Communion Cups, consists of rows of ‘hit and miss’ ornament. 1970Morning Star 11 July 2 The pedlars of such gifts are only worried about the wastage involved..and the general hit-and-miss aspect of the whole business.
23. Various phrases.
a. to hit the pipe: to smoke opium. Also to hit the gong, gow, stuff: to take drugs. So to hit cigarettes: to smoke heavily. U.S. slang.
1886T. F. Byrnes Profess. Criminals of Amer. 385 Joe did not ‘hit the pipe’. 1902Chicago Record Herald 7 Sept. vi. 5/2 On each bunk two almond-eyed devotees of the drug may be seen ‘hitting the pipe’, as opium smoking is termed. 1933Amer. Speech VIII. ii. 27/1 When one has contracted the [drug] habit..he is..hitting the gow. Ibid. 27/2 When the opium addict is smoking he is said to be hitting the gong. 1936Ibid. XI. 122/2 To hit the stuff, to be addicted to narcotics... The act of taking dope. 1939Ibid. (1942) XVII. 206/1 Bill is hitting cigarets some.
b. to hit the booze, bottle, jug, pot: to drink excessively. slang (orig. and chiefly U.S.).
1889Oregonian (Portland) 14 Oct. 3/1 If Dasher gets a dozen or more customers with his own appetite for hitting the booze he will have no trouble making it go. 1908J. M. Sullivan Crim. Slang 13 Hitting the pots, excessive drinking. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §102.22 Drink liquor, esp. intemperately,..hit the booze,..bottle. 1942R. Chandler High Window (1943) x. 78 We were kind of hitting the bottle a little. 1946Mezzrow & Wolfe Really Blues 374 Hit the jug, drink heavily, often from the bottle; have a drink. 1956A. Christie Dead Man's Folly iii. 40 The most incredible shirts..covered with crawling turtles and things—made me think I'd been hitting the bottle. 1957Landfall XI. 38 Everyone knew he'd turn out a flop... Hit the booze and got T.B. 1965Times Lit. Suppl. 25 Nov. 1068/2 We are ‘wild spiders crying together’..who must crack or hit the bottle.
c. to hit the ceiling: see ceiling vbl. n. 5 b.
d. to hit the headlines: see headline 2 c.
e. to hit the deck: (a) to go to bed; (b) to land an aircraft; (c) to fall to the ground; (d) to get up (from bed). colloq.
1918Sat. Even. Post 21 Dec. 29 The sergeants and corporals emphasized the command to rise with sharp injunctions to ‘Snap out of it!’, ‘Hit the deck!’ 1935W. de la Mare in Proc. Brit. Acad. 247 He hit the deck; he slung his hammock; he went to bed;..they all signify much the same thing. 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 36 Hit the deck, to land [an aircraft]. 1954Manch. Guardian Weekly 4 Mar. 2/1 The whole House fell on its knees or went prone behind desks, as one Pacific veteran shouted out: ‘Hit the deck, you damn fools!’ 1956Amer. Speech XXXI. 193 Hit the deck!, wake up; begin working; jump to the floor. 1958F. C. Avis Boxing Ref. Dict. 53 Hit the deck, a slang expression meaning to fall to the ring floor. 1961F. H. Burgess Dict. Sailing 115 Hit the deck, take an upper-deck siesta. 1966‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 52 I'm going to hit the deck now, and I'm going to turn the lamp out.
f. to hit the silk: see quot. 1941. colloq.
1941Amer. Speech XVI. 166/2 Hit the silk, use a parachute. 1958‘P. Bryant’ Two Hours to Doom 104 If it came to the worst, they could always drop altitude and hit the silk.
V. With adverbs in specialized senses.
24. hit in.
†a. trans. To thrust in, push in with a stroke. Obs.
a1400–50Alexander 512 Þan wendis þar-out a litill worm & wald it eft enter, And or scho hit in hire hede a hard deth suffirs.
b. intr. To strike in: see 19.
c. Polo. (See quot. 1963.)
1906T. B. Drybrough Polo (rev. ed.) xiv. 279 A ball once over the side-boards is out, although it rebounds in or is hit in by a player before it touches the ground. 1930Hurlingham Club Rules of Polo (ed. 43) iii. 60 (heading) Explanation of terms... ‘Hit in’ means ‘to hit the ball into the field of play’. 1963Bloodgood & Santini Horseman's Dict. 104 Hit in, in polo to hit the ball into the field of play; not to bowl it in under-hand.
25. hit off.
a. trans. To produce or throw off with success.
1700Congreve Way of World iii. xiii, We hit off a little wit now and then, but no animosity. 1822M. A. Kelty Osmond I. 87 You used to be rather au fait at hitting off a sonnet.
b. To succeed in attaining or getting at or upon. (Said esp. of striking the scent in hunting.)
1678Dryden Limberham iv. i, You have hit it off it seems. a1698Temple (J.), What prince soever can hit off this great secret, need know no more. 1749Fielding Tom Jones x. vi, It happens to this sort of men, as to bad hounds, who never hit off a fault themselves. 1815Sporting Mag. XLV. 299 The hounds again hit off the scent. 1879F. T. Pollok Sport Brit. Burmah I. 69 We started at daybreak..and soon hit off a trail.
c. To describe, represent, or reproduce successfully or to a nicety.
1737Waterland Eucharist 81 He has very well hit off the Sense. 1831Macaulay in Life & Lett. (1883) I. 233, I never saw a character so thoroughly hit off. 1871Smiles Charac. x. (1876) 275 Sometimes he hits off an individual trait by an anecdote.
d. See also senses 1 b and 20 b, c.
26. hit out.
†a. trans. To knock out. Obs.
1393Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 386 And ho so hitteþ out a mannes eye oþer elles hus for-teþ. 1704J. Pitts Acc. Mahometans 98, I have hit out the Devils Eyes already.
†b. To bring out, come out with. Obs. rare.
1579E. K. Ep. Ded. Spenser's Sheph. Cal., He mought needes in singing hit out some of theyr tunes.
c. To strike out, elicit.
1838Keble Occas. Pap. & Rev. (1877) 31 [She] hit out the spark which has now become such an orb of poetical fame.
d. intr. To strike out with the fist. Also fig. to deal heavy blows at, to attack vigorously.
1856Reade It is never too late xv, No! give me a chap that hits out straight from the shoulder. 1873Punch 10 May 190/1 Mr. Torrens hit out at Mr. Lowe. a1895Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiog. vi. (1896) 188 A member [of Parliament] should hit out seldom but hit hard.
27. hit up.
a. To force up; to speed up. With it: to put on pressure; to make efforts in a certain direction.
1893W. K. Post Harvard Stories 49, I could hear him objurgating Steve Hudson for hitting up the stroke. Ibid. 146 When you are doing better than three and a half [miles an hour], you are hitting it up pretty well. 1904F. Lynde Grafters xx. 257 Two days after the Universal's triumph in the Belmount field, the Argus began to ‘hit it up’ boldly toward the capital. 1912Mulford & Clay Buck Peters iii. 49 Hit her up or you'll be late. 1918in F. A. Pottle Stretchers (1930) 270 Back he went, while we waited. When he got back with his jam, we hit it up again. It seemed miles before we got anywhere.
b. To make or score (runs).
1895[see up adv.1 19 b]. 1899Daily News 9 June 6/7 They were batting all day, and hit up 397 for the loss of seven wickets. 1928Evening News 18 Aug. 10/5 Middlesex hit up 365 in the first day's play.
c. to hit (a person) up for: to ask (someone) for. U.S. and N.Z. slang.
1917Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 5 Sept. 28/1 We hit him up for a loan for weeks afterwards and he always came to light too. 1935C. W. Thurlow Craig Paraguayan Interlude xxv. 291, I..hit him up for a job, and here I am. 1936J. Steinbeck In Dubious Battle 108 Don't hit 'im up for anything else but breakfast. 1957I. Cross God Boy (1958) xii. 98 ‘I'll have to hit my old man up for a new bike,’ he said. 1972M. J. Bosse Incident at Naha iii. 135 She hit me up for bread.
VI.
28. Comb. hit-wicket (Cricket), the act of hitting the wicket with the bat or a part of the person, by which the batsman is ‘out’.
1773in Q. Rev. No. 316. 469 [We find] ‘hit wicket’ [scored for the first time in a match between Hambledon and England in 1773]. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 47 The hitter is given out as ‘hit wicket’. 1897Ranjitsinhji Cricket xix, The umpire at the bowler's end is the proper person to be appealed to..in all cases except those of stumping, hit⁓wicket, and run out.
Add:[IV.] [23.] g. to hit off the line: see *line n.2 26 d (b).
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). to hit the ground running: (lit.) to land on the ground and begin to run immediately, esp. as a means of preserving one's momentum; (fig.) to begin and proceed rapidly, confidently, and resolutely; to make a brisk or successful start; (of a politician or administration) to embark upon a course of action immediately after election or appointment.
1895Sandusky (Ohio) Reg. 30 Apr. 6/4 The bullet went under me. I knew he had five more cartridges, so I hit the ground running and squatted low down when his gun barked a second time. 1935Washington Post 2 June (Parade of Youth Mag.) 7/2 The bum dropped off while the train was still travelling at a good speed... He..swung down from the ladder at the end of the baggage car and hit the ground running. It took him a dozen paces to check his speed. 1942Times 4 Aug. 4/5 The swift Japanese penetration is not surprising... As the official spokesman phrased it this morning: ‘The Japanese hits the ground running, and he runs until he is stopped.’ 1960R. W. Jones in Civil Service Jrnl. July–Sept. 2 (heading), 1961 top team must ‘hit the ground running’. 1980Forbes (Nexis) 28 Apr. 36 Come Inauguration Day, he should hit the ground running. 1993Pittsburgh Post-Gaz. (Nexis) 10 Mar. n11 Peter Smith jumps from his moving car and hits the ground running, a pursuer hot on his trail. 2000C. Hanger World Food: Morocco 156 Don't plan on hitting the ground running, especially if you're on a long trip. It's worth allowing yourself time to adjust physically and mentally to your new environment and lifestyle.
▸ colloq. (orig. U.S.). to hit on: to make romantic or sexual advances towards.
1959Esquire Nov. 70 To hit on a chick means to try and get intimate with her. 1971D. Wells & S. Dance Night People (1991) v. 79, I saw a little wayback hit on you. In fact, she told me she had eyes for you. 1976in D. Wepman et al. The Life 38 Go hit on one of them Indian bitches. 1992D. Parry & P. Withrow Jacamar Nest xii. 101 The guy was a complete jerk. Always hitting on women. Even hit on my wife. You never seen my wife, but I'll tell you a guy's gotta be a jerk to try that. 2000Ralph 7 July 43/2 If a good friend's ex-boyfriend hit on me I wouldn't go out with him because I'd think he was on the rebound and I'm just the closest thing to bounce off.
▸ colloq. (orig. and chiefly Austral. and N.Z.). to hit one's straps: (esp. in Sport) to perform as well as one can; to hit one's stride; (also) to get going, to get a move on.
1987Sydney Morning Herald 26 Sept. 11/1 (heading) On radio he is king, the $3 million man, but the corporate John Laws has only just begun to hit his straps. 1988D. McGill Dict. Kiwi Slang 56 Hit your straps, to take off quickly; possibly from earlier meaning of looking for one's swag-straps, meaning to consider looking for another job. 1992Daily Tel. (Nexis) 24 Oct. 39 A number of our players have not hit their straps for whatever reason, but they know that if they don't do it shortly, they'll no longer be part of the team. 1999Dominion (Wellington, N.Z.) (Nexis) 10 Mar. 52 I've told our guys to remember the Wales win against France... Miracles can happen and sooner or later we are going to hit our straps.
▪ II. hit, n.
Also 5 hete, 6–8 hitt.
[f. hit v.]
1. a. A blow given to something aimed at; a stroke (at cricket, billiards, etc.); the collision or impact of one body with another.
hit-in (in Polo), the hitting of the ball into the field of play. (Cf. hit v. 24 c). hit off (in Hockey), the first stroke, which begins the game.
c1450Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 185 To hym wyl I go, and ȝeve hym suche an hete That alle the lechis of the londe his lyf xul nevyr restore. 1598Florio, Colpo, a blow, a stroke, a hit. 1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 292 A hit, a very palpable hit. 1681Cotton Wond. Peak 32 How deep..By tumbling down stones..Till the first hit strikes the astonisht ear, Like Thunder under-ground. 1810Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 195 The navigator could plant but few hits. 1811Ibid. XXXVII. 92 He..can only be denied by a hit down. 1850‘Bat’ Cricket Man. 46 Whatever byes result from the hit, go to the hit. 1879F. Pollock Sport Brit. Burmah I. 229 We..made some very disgraceful misses, and again some very pretty hits. 1893Westm. Gaz. 22 Feb. 11/2 The annual encounter..at hockey..Hit off will be at half-past two. 1930Hurlingham Club Rules of Polo (ed. 43) iii. 63 Penalty 2, by the side fouled—a hit in from behind by the other side..the defending side being free to place themselves where they choose. 1937Times 16 July 5/5 Captain Morrison, after meeting a hit-in by Major Harrison put Adsdean further ahead with a stupendous shot under his pony's neck. 1959Times 18 May 2/1 Lucas met a hit-in to score early in the second chukka.
b. A dose of a narcotic drug; the action of obtaining or administering such a dose. Also attrib., as hit-mark, the scar from an injection of a drug. slang (orig. U.S.).
1951Nat. Educ. Assoc. U.S. Jrnl. May 342/2 They are anxious to make a ‘connection’, ‘score’ or ‘hit’. 1962‘E. McBain’ Like Love (1964) ix. 119 A narcotics cop will insist on examining a prostitute's thighs for hit marks, even when he knows she couldn't possibly be a junkie. 1966L. Cohen Beautiful Losers (1970) i. 106 They rustled among their veins for one that still carried blood, tapped the needles under the flesh, waited for the red signal of a ‘hit’, and then squirted the solution into circulation. 1970Daily Tel. 27 Apr. 4/8 In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, the hippie Mecca, the price of one ‘hit’ has dropped from 12s to 2s 6d. 1972Southerly XXXII. 103 Somebody hands me a joint and I take a hit and hand it to Marlene who takes a hit. 1972C. Weston Poor, Poor Ophelia (1973) ii. 15 You're blind! You have to wait for a report to see the hit marks?
c. A killing; a robbery. Also attrib., as hit list, (a) a list of persons to be assassinated; (b) transf., a list or group of persons, etc., against which some concerted action is intended; a list of objectives; hit-man, a hired murderer; hit squad, a group of esp. politically-motivated assassins or kidnappers; also transf. slang (orig. U.S.).
1970Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 8 Mar. 32/5 The Mafia cringe at the way our boys carry out their hits. 1971D. Mackenzie Sleep is for Rich vi. 186, I got scared and called the whole thing off. Someone else must have made the hit.
1976Time 5 Jan. 46/1 One intelligence official..bitterly labeled Counterspy's roster of CIA agents as nothing more or less than ‘a *hit list’. 1977Time 6 June 11/1 A particular sore point was Carter's original ‘hit list’ of 32 water projects. The President compromised and restored 14 of the originally doomed projects. 1978Guardian Weekly 26 Nov. 7/1 ZANU, one of two Rhodesian nationalist guerrilla organisations, meanwhile issued a ‘hit list’ of supporters of the interim Government, describing them as ‘priority military targets’. 1985Times Educ. Suppl. 19 July 1/2 By the time talks resume..the Government's ‘hit list’ of rate-capped authorities in 1986 to 1987 would be published.
1970J. Philips Nightmare at Dawn (1971) ii. 97 He was..a hired gun, a *hit-man. 1973Daily Tel. 25 July 4/8 Bryant is alleged to have been a ‘hit man’ (assassin) for drug traffickers and to have carried out a ‘contract’ to kill Finley.
1976Times 19 Apr. 6/5 Apart from the attempts to kill Major Muhayshi in Tunisia, a Libyan *hit squad sought him out in London in February. 1981Internat. Herald Tribune 20 Nov. 6/4 Venezuelan democrats..had to overthrow military dictatorships to gain power, and then defeat Castroite insurgents and rightist hit squads to keep it. 1985T. Lundberg Starting in Business i. 14 The Government..then has to..set up Mr Tebbit's hit squads.
2. A stroke of sarcasm, censure, rebuke, etc.
c1668Roxb. Ball. (1892) VII. 381 'Tis Wit for Wit, and Hit for Hit. 1673[R. Leigh] Transp. Reh. 139 His snip⁓snap wit, hit for hit. 1800Sporting Mag. XV. 265 We have received a number of hits about the soup or broth shops. 1873Helps Anim. & Mast. iv. (1875) 102 In Hudibras there is a sly hit at the sayings of the philosophers.
3. a. A stroke of good luck which one hits upon or meets with; a fortunate chance.
1666Pepys Diary 1 June, To lament the losse of the opportunity of the last yeare, which..all might have been such a hit as will never come again in this age. 1684T. Burnet Th. Earth i. 294 A lucky hit indeed, for chance to frame a world! 1704Churchill Collect. Voy. III. 9/1 One of these Hits is enough to Enrich a Family. 1875Whitney Life Lang. vii. 120 Such words..which only by a lucky hit gain life and a career.
b. to look to (or mind) one's hits: to look to one's chances.
1699Bentley Phal. 190 He should have minded his hits better, when he was minded to act the Tyrant. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v. Eye, To have an Eye to the main Chance, or look to your Hits. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) II. 248 If I mind my hits this trip, I shall be as rich as the best of them. 1840F. Trollope Widow Married xxiii, You had better mind your hits between mamma and me.
4. a. A successful stroke made in action or performance of any kind; esp. any popular success (a person, a play, a song, etc.) in public entertainment. Also attrib. and Comb., as hit parade, a programme or grouping of ‘hits’; hit tune (or song), a tune that proves popular.
1811C. Mathews Let. 22 June (1838) II. 123 Maw⁓worm was a most unusual hit, I am told. 1815W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 157 note, One of Mr. Lane's most fortunate hits. 1829Blackw. mag. XXV. 399 Mr. Peel seems to have made a hit in the chief character of Shiel's play. 1835Dickens Let. 9 Dec. (1965) I. 103 The insertion of another Prison Paper would decidedly detract from the ‘hit’ of the first. 1847Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxiv. (1879) 217 His general effect..was pronounced to be a hit. 1908Sears, Roebuck Catal. 199/1 Orchestra selections..‘Broadway Hits’. 1918Talking Machine News & Jrnl. Amusements Feb. 83 (Advt.), All the song-hits of the moment. Ibid. 89/2 (Advt.), When a title makes a hit, we are bound to have another something like it before long. Ibid. Mar. p. iv (Advt.), Always a hit!! A ‘Record’ in a Record. 1927Melody Maker Aug. 800 (Advt.), The sensational hit. Sweeping the country like a cyclone. The Doll Dance. 1932Amer. Speech Apr. 252 The motto of the song writers is..‘A hit is not an aesthetic triumph, it is something that sells.’ 1937Cinema Arts June 22 (caption) The Hit Parade. 1937W. S. Maugham Theatre xxviii. 270 I'm very pleased with her. I think she'll make quite a hit. I've half a mind to give her a contract. 1942Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §580/2 A popular song which has stood the test of time; hit song or tune. 1947R. de Toledano Frontiers of Jazz xvi. 172 Hit tunes of his own composition. 1948Manch. Guardian Weekly 1 Jan. 13/4 The box-office of any hit-show on Broadway. 1948F. Brown Murder can be Fun (1951) i. 18 She had big blue eyes that would have been a hit on television. 1957Observer 29 Sept. 13/1 It must first be said that Miss Storm has written a resounding, self-evident hit. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Oct. 593/1 Hollywood now makes its smash hits out of American self-criticism. 1958Times 26 May 7/6 The numbers listed in the hit parade all have a structure of professionalism. 1959G. Freeman Jack would be Gent. vi. 129 The first dozen of you lucky kids..will be presented with my latest hit disc. 1967Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. A28/2 Lemons and peppermints have been ‘hit items’ from the very first fair, and so have rides on one of the Brookline Fire Department's engines. 1967Melody Maker 29 July 7/3 I'm not chasing any hit records any more. 1968Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 245/1 Fowler (1966), using a program in Elliot 803 Autocode, has explored the effect of combining models with varying distributions of hit numbers. 1969Punch 29 Jan. p. v, Don Partridge, who shot from the pavement into the hit parade, is putting on a Buskers Concert.
b. A saying that goes to the point; a striking and effective expression; a telling phrase.
1836T. Hook G. Gurney (1850) I. i. 18 He suggested the introduction of two or three jokes—‘hits’, I recollect he called them—into the speeches of that personage. 1884Nonconf. & Indep. 25 Sept. 929/2 The noble speaker had made the hit of the evening. 1885Law Times LXXX. 10/1 One of his happiest hits is to brand wire pullers as the chiffonniers of politics.
c. A successful guess.
1852Gladstone Glean. IV. i. 139 A knack of lucky conjecture..resembling that which solves conundrums, often seems to be more successful in its hits than comprehensive mental grasp or the closest logical continuity.
d. hit off, the act of hitting off (hit v. 25 c); a clever representation or imitation.
1830J. Badcock in Foote's Wks. p. xi, The plaudits which would accompany a successful hit-off of the subject under treatment.
5. Backgammon.
a. A game won by a player after his opponent has thrown off one or more men from the board, as distinguished from a gammon or a backgammon: see quot. 1888.
b. The act of hitting a ‘blot’: see hit v. 10.
1766Goldsm. Vic. W. ii, Backgammon, at which my old friend and I sometimes took a twopenny hit. 1778C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 171 Two of your Adversary's Men in your Tables are better, for a Hit, than any greater Number, provided your Game is forwardest. 1856Lever Martins of Cro' M. 18 A hardly-contested ‘hit’ of backgammon was being fought out. 1888Cassell's Bk. Sports & Past. 385 There are three different kinds of wins, viz., the hit, the gammon, and the backgammon. The player who has played all his men round into his own inner table, and by fortunate throws of the dice has borne all his men, wins the hit.
6. An abundant crop of fruit (i.e. one that turns out a success). west. dial.
1800Trans. Soc. Arts XVIII. 303 What in the Cider-countries is called a hitt. This..superabundance of fruit, is very destructive to the trees; for so great a crop weakens them very much. 1890Gloucestersh. Gloss., Hit, an abundant crop of fruit.
Add:[4.] e. Computing. = *match n.1 12. Also attrib., as hit rate, (occas.) ratio, the percentage of records in a file which are accessed in the course of a processing task; also used analogously in other computing contexts (esp. memory caching), and transf.
1966C. J. Sippl Computer Dict. & Handbk. (1967) 142/1 Hit,..2. In file maintenance, the finding of a match between a detail record and a master record. 3. The occurrence or match of transaction items with file items in the process of file maintenance. 1970O. Dopping Computers & Data Processing xvi. 265 If the account numbers are equal, we have a ‘hit’, and the transaction is used for updating the master record. 1972C. L. Meek Gloss. Computing Terminol. 104/1 Hit rate.., the percentage of records in a file which are accessed, compared to the total number in that file. 1973IBM Techn. Disclosure Bull. Dec. 2209 A Least Recently Used..replacement algorithm..results in a better hit ratio than that obtained from other page replacement algorithms. 1986English Today Oct.–Dec. 41/3 At least one [building] society calculates the number of accounts opened per total number of transactions handled. The result it expresses as the cashier's hit rate. 1987Electronics & Wireless World Jan. 106/2 The cache holding register..is used to hold the prefetched long word in the case of a cache miss or to hold the prefetched long word from the cache if a hit occurs.
▪ III. hit
obs. f. hight v., height; obs. and dial. f. it. |