jackhammer

noun

1. A portable percussive power tool that combines a hammer and chisel used to drill or break hard matter, for instance rock or concrete.
2. (figuratively)Something that is very strong but also very rigid.

   “A new skiercross pro tour is on the docket, as well as freeskiing. Just like racing, both require strong but supple legs rather than jackhammer quads.”

verb

1. (intransitive)To use a jackhammer.

   “Early the next day a crew came to fix the street. Vernon was out there at once, watching them jackhammer and haul the asphalt […]”

2. (transitive)To break (something) using a jackhammer.

   “The foundations for the barrier had been jackhammered away; the piles of broken concrete were just left alongside the road.”

   “In the morning, the street is being jackhammered up.”

3. (transitive)To form (something) using a jackhammer.

   “Small ledges had been jackhammered at each end of the crater and timbers bolted into them, forming abutments of the bridge that was to come.”

   “Richmond already spent tax money on an engineering department whose employees parked their trucks in the street, jackhammered holes in the pavement, and repaired storm sewers […]”

   “He was standing at a work table he’d jackhammered from a boulder, placidly sculpting a rose on its work surface.”

4. (figuratively, intransitive)To move like a jackhammer.

   “[…] a bolt of lightning jackhammered across the sky, interrupting his dream.”

   “When he jackhammered into her, she clutched the bedspread and braced herself for the onslaught.”

   “His left knee jackhammered under the desk, his right hand patted a steady bongo beat on the top.”

5. (figuratively, intransitive)To move like a jackhammer.

   “[…] he lay rigid, his heart jackhammering, telling himself that there was nothing out there, nothing […]”

   “The paranoia came on pretty damn strong for this early in the morning, his high blood pressure—160 over 90 at twenty-two—jackhammering in his wrists, his thoughts caterwauling beneath the moment.”

6. (figuratively, transitive)To move (something) like a jackhammer.

   “He […] drew his knees toward his chest as far as the cramped space would allow, and jackhammered his feet into the forward wall of the trunk, which was formed by the backseat of the car.”

   “Then, before the lumberjack had a chance to react, Dad grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and jackhammered his head into the bar.”

7. (figuratively, transitive)To strike (something) repeatedly with force, to pound.

   “Guam-based B-52 bombers, newly modified to haul 60,000 lbs. of bombs each, jackhammered a Viet Cong radio and communications center 35 miles northeast of Saigon.”

   “He didn’t make love to her; he jackhammered her.”

   “[…] the thought jackhammered his heart and mind.”