hit

Universal Words verb, noun verb (hitting, hit, hit) touch sb / sth with force 1 [VN] ~ sb/sth (with sth) to bring your hand, or an object you are holding, against sb/sth quickly and with force: My parents never used to hit me. * He hit the nail squarely on the head with the hammer. * She hit him on the head with her umbrella. 2 [VN] to come against sth/sb with force, especially causing damage or injury: The bus hit the bridge. * I was hit by a falling stone. 3 [VN] ~ sth (on / against sth) to knock a part of your body against sth: He hit his head on the low ceiling. 4 [VN] [oftenpassive] (of a bullet, bomb, etc. or a person using them) to reach and touch a person or thing suddenly and with force: The town was hit by bombs again last night. * He was hit by a sniper. ball 5 [VN] to bring a bat, etc. against a ball and push it away with force: She hit the ball too hard and it went out of the court. * We've hit our ball over the fence! 6 [VN] (sport) to score points by hitting a ball: to hit a home run have bad effect 7 to have a bad effect on sb/sth: [VN] The tax increases will certainly hit the poor. * His death didn't really hit me at first. * Rural areas have been worst hit by the strike. * Spain was one of the hardest hit countries. * [V] A tornado hit on Tuesday night. attack 8 to attack sb/sth: [VN] We hit the enemy when they least expected it. [also V] reach 9 [VN] to reach a place: Follow this footpath and you'll eventually hit the road. * The President hits town tomorrow. 10 [VN] to reach a particular level: Temperatures hit 40ｰ yesterday. * The euro hit a record low in trading today. * (BrE) We hit top form (= played our best) in yesterday's match. problem / difficulty 11 [VN] (informal) to experience sth difficult or unpleasant: We seem to have hit a problem. * Everything was going well but then we hit trouble. suddenly realize 12 [VN] (informal) to come suddenly into your mind: I couldn't remember where I'd seen him before, and then it suddenly hit me. press button 13 [VN] (informal) to press sth such as a button to operate a machine, etc: Hit the brakes! IDIOMS hit (it) big (informal) to be very successful: The band has hit big in the US. hit the ceiling / roof (informal) to suddenly become very angry hit the buffers (informal) if a plan, sb's career, etc. hits the buffers, it suddenly stops being successful: The former tennis star's comeback trail hit the buffers yesterday when she lost in straight sets. hit the deck (informal) to fall to the ground hit the ground running (informal) to start doing sth and continue very quickly and successfully hit the hay / sack (informal) to go to bed hit sb (straight / right) in the eye to be very obvious to sb hit it (spoken) used to tell sb to start doing sth, such as playing music: Hit it, Louis! hit it off (with sb) (informal) to have a good friendly relationship with sb: We hit it off straight away. hit the jackpot to make or win a lot of money quickly and unexpectedly hit the nail on the head to say sth that is exactly right hit the road / trail (informal) to start a journey/trip hit the roof = go through the roof at ROOF hit the spot (informal) if sth hits the spot it does exactly what it should do hit the streets