hit

hit

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Hittite.

• IPA^(key): /hɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪt

From Middle English hitten (“to hit, strike, make contact with”), from Old English hittan (“to meet with, come upon, fall in with”), from Old Norse hitta (“to strike, meet”), from Proto-Germanic *hittijaną (“to come upon, find”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to fall; fall upon; hit; cut; hew”).

Cognate with Icelandic hitta (“to meet”), Danish hitte (“to find”), Latin caedō (“to kill”), Albanian qit (“to hit, throw, pull out, release”).

hit (third-person singular simple present hits, present participle hitting, simple past hit or (dialectal, obsolete) hat or (rare, dialectal) het, past participle hit or (archaic, rare, dialectal) hitten)

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 752825175:

        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.

      • 1922-1927, Frank Harris, My Life and Loves

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

      • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[[Episode 15]]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], OCLC 560090630:

        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 […]

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

        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.

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

      The ball hit the fence.

      • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], OCLC 995220039, 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.

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

        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.

   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 6963663:

        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, transitive, intransitive) 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.

   Antonym: miss

3. (transitive, colloquial) To switch on.

   Antonyms: cut, kill

   Somebody's been here! Hit the lights!

4. (transitive, colloquial) To briefly visit.

   We hit the grocery store on the way to the park.

5. (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.

6. (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.

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

        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.

   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 VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [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 702325540, lines 1–2, page 3:

        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, 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 606515358, [Act II, scene i]:

        Thou hast hit it.

7. (transitive) To affect negatively.

   The economy was hit by a recession.  The hurricane hit his fishing business hard.

8. (figuratively) To attack.
   • 2016 March 3, Nick Gass, quoting Donald Trump, “Trump on small hands: 'I guarantee you there's no problem'”, in Politico‎:

     I have to say this, he hit my hands. Nobody has ever hit my hands. I’ve never heard of this one. Look at those hands. Are they small hands?

9. (heading, games) To make a play.
   1. (transitive, card games) 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.
10. (transitive, computing, programming) To use; to connect to.

    The external web servers hit DBSRV7, but the internal web server hits DBSRV3.

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

    I'd hit that!

12. (transitive, US, slang) To inhale an amount of smoke from a narcotic substance, particularly marijuana.
    • 2005, Jordan Houston, Darnell Carlton, Paul Beauregard, Premro Smith, Marlon Goodwin, David Brown, and Willie Hutchinson (lyrics), “Stay Fly”, in Most Known Unknown‎, Sony BMG, performed by Three 6 Mafia (featuring Young Buck, 8 Ball, and MJG):

      Tastes like fruit when you hit it; got to have bread to get it.

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

    This is another great exercise which hits the long head.

14. (transitive, bodybuilding) to work out

    With that said, the group hitting their legs just once a week still made gains.

• (administer a blow): beat, pelt, thump; see also Thesaurus:hit
• (kill a person): bump off, do away with, whack; see also Thesaurus:kill
• (attack): beset, fall upon, lay into; see also Thesaurus:attack
• (have sex with): bang, ram, smash; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
• (smoke marijuana): smoke up, toke

• (manage to touch in the right place): miss

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 80026745:

     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.
   • 1848, “Her Majesty's Theatre”, in The Musical World‎, volume 23:

     Marie Taglioni was another hit for Her Majesty's Theatre last season, and will be a hit again this season […]

   • 2012 February 9, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Review: Chico & Rita”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     Chico & Rita opens in the modern era, as an aged, weary Chico shines shoes in his native Cuba. Then a song heard on the radio—a hit he wrote and recorded with Rita in their youth—carries him back to 1948 Havana, where they first met.

3. An attack on a location, person or people.
4. A collision of a projectile with the target.
   • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

     But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

   1. In the game of Battleship, a correct guess at where one's opponent ship is.
5. (computing, Internet) A match found by searching a computer system or search engine
6. (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.

7. An approximately correct answer in a test set.
8. (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.

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

   Where am I going to get my next hit?

10. A premeditated murder done for criminal or political purposes.
11. (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 960856019:

      What late he called a blessing, now was wit, / And God's good providence, a lucky hit.

12. (backgammon) A move that throws one of the opponent's men back to the entering point.
13. (backgammon) A game won after the adversary has removed some of his men. It counts for less than a gammon.

• (a punch): miss
• (success): flop, turkey

hit (not comparable)

1. Very successful.

   The band played their hit song to the delight of the fans.

From Middle English hit (“it”), from Old English hit (“it”), from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Dutch het (“it”). More at it. Note 'it.

hit (subjective and objective hit, reflexive and intensive hitself, possessive adjective and noun hits)

1. (dialectal) It.
   • 1922, Philip Gengembre Hubert, The Atlantic monthly, Volume 130:

     But how hit was to come about didn't appear.

   • 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.

• hits
• hitself

• hit at OneLook Dictionary Search
• hit in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911

• Thi, iht, ith, thi-

• hüt, hüüd (Uri)

From Old High German hiutu, from hiu +‎ tagu, a calque of Latin hodie. Cognate with German heute, Dutch heden.

• IPA^(key): /hɪt/

hit

1. (Alsatian) today

   Hit isch dr Jean-Pierre so drüri. ― Jean-Pierre is so sad today.

From English hit.

• IPA^(key): /hit/[1]

hit m (plural hits)

1. hit (something very successful)

   Synonym: èxit

   • 2020 February 6, Time Out Barcelona‎, volume 583, page 8, column Sèries:

     Us passareu els capítols amb el Shazam obert buscant els hits que sonen.

     You'll spend the episodes with Shazam open, searching for the hits that play.

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)kita, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)kita. Doublet of ta.

• IPA^(key): /hit/

hit

1. we, us (inclusive)

• hit is used either as a subject of an intransitive verb or as an object of a transitive verb, while ta is used as a subject of a transitive verb.
• In transitive clauses with an indefinite object, hit can be used as a subject.

• Donald M. Topping (1973) Chamorro Reference Grammar‎, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

From English hit.

hit

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) hit; popular

From English hit.

• IPA^(key): /hɪt/

• Audio

  (file)

hit m

1. hit (a success, especially in the entertainment industry)

   Synonym: šlágr

From English hit.

• IPA^(key): /hit/, [ˈhid̥]

hit n (singular definite hittet, plural indefinite hit or hits)

1. hit (something very successful)

• “hit” in Den Danske Ordbog

• IPA^(key): /ɦɪt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hit
• Rhymes: -ɪt

Borrowed from English hit.

hit m (plural hits, diminutive hitje n)

1. A hit song, a very popular and successful song.
2. (by extension) A success, something popular and successful (especially in the entertainment industry).

• feesthit
• kersthit
• zomerhit

Shortening of Hitlander (“Shetlander”).

hit m (plural hitten, diminutive hitje n or hitske n)

1. (dated) A Shetland pony.
2. (dated, regional) Any pony or small horse.

• daghit

hit m (plural hits)

1. hit (popular song)
2. hit (success)

From hisz (“to believe”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈhit]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -it

hit (plural hitek)

1. faith, belief
2. (archaic) oath, word of honour (e.g. in hitves and hitet tesz)

• hit in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /hit/

hit

1. here

hit

1. this

• Hkaw Luk (2017) A grammatical sketch of Lacid‎, Chiang Mai: Payap University (master thesis)

• Hit (german-based spelling)
  • Hétt (Eupen)

From Dutch hit, from English hit.

hit f

1. (slang, Dutch) something popular (book, song, band, country)

Slang. Mainly used when speaking Dutch, rather than in real Limburgish. Overall speaking, Limburgish is more conservative, therefore slaag is more often used.

• Dative and accusative are nowadays obsolete, use nominative instead.
• The dative got out of use around 1900. As this is a recent loanword, there is no conjugation for it to be found.

• IPA^(key): /hɪt/

hit

1. Alternative form of het

• hitt, hitte, hyt, hytte, it, itt, itte, jt, yt

From Old English hit, from Proto-West Germanic *hit, from Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”).

• IPA^(key): /hit/, /it/

hit (accusative hit, genitive hit, his, possessive determiner hit, his)

1. Third-person singular neuter pronoun: it
2. Sometimes used in reference to a child or man: he, she
3. Third-person singular neuter accusative pronoun: it
4. Third-person singular neuter genitive pronoun: its
5. (impersonal, placeholder) Third-person singular impersonal placeholder pronoun: it
   • c. 1335-1361, William of Palerne (MS. King's College 13), folio 4, recto, lines 3-4; republished as W. W. Skeat, editor, The Romance of William of Palerne‎, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1867, OCLC 150454844, page 6:

     Hit bi fel in þat foreſt · þere faſt by ſide / þer woned a wel old cherl · þat was a couherde

     It so happened that right there in that forest / there was a very old peasant; a cowherd.

• English: it
• Scots: hid
• Yola: it, yt

hit (nominative pronoun hit)

1. Third-person singular neuter possessive determiner: it

• “hit, pron.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 27 May 2018.

From Middle Norwegian hít. Compare Swedish hit.

• IPA^(key): /hiːt/

hit

1. here (to this place), hither

   Kom hit!

   Come here!

• “hit” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

• IPA^(key): /hiːt/

From Middle Norwegian hít. Compare Swedish hit.

hit

1. here (to this place), hither

   Kom hit!

   Come here!

From Old Norse hít. Compare Faroese hít (“condom”).

hit f (definite singular hita, indefinite plural hiter, definite plural hitene)

1. a leather bag (usually made from a hide in a single piece)
2. (dialectal, derogatory) used of a woman, especially in compounds

• mjølhit

• “hit” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “hit”, in Norsk Ordbok: ordbok over det norske folkemålet og det nynorske skriftmålet, Oslo: Samlaget, 1950-2016

From Proto-Germanic *hit.

hit

1. it

• it

• Middle Dutch: het
  • Dutch: het (only the pronoun; the definite article is a weakened form of dat)
  • Limburgish: hèt

• “hit”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

• hitt

From Proto-Germanic *hit (“this, this one”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-, *ḱey- (“this, here”). Cognate with Old Frisian hit (“it”), Old High German iz (“it”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐍄𐌰 (hita, “it”). More at hē.

• IPA^(key): /xit/, [hit]

hit n (accusative hit, genitive his, dative him)

1. it

• Middle English: hit, hitt, hitte, hyt, hytte, it, itt, itte, jt, yt
  • English: it
  • Scots: hid
  • Yola: it, yt

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.