hammer (something) into (someone or something)

1. To strike something repeatedly, as or as if with a hammer, until it penetrates some person or thing. Next, you need to hammer these nails into the wall. Have you hammered the stakes into the ground yet? A push pin will never hold that picture frame. We'll hammer a nail into the wall and hang it on that.

2. To commit some piece of information into one's or someone else's long-term memory, especially through intense repetition. How many times do I have to hammer it into you? Do not drive my car unless I give you permission first! I've just been trying to hammer these formulas into my head for the big test tomorrow! A: "Mom, how do you still remember the quadratic equation?" B: "I don't know. I guess my high school tutor really hammered it into my head!"

hammer something into something

and pound something into something

hammer something in; pound something in Lit. to drive something into something as with a hammer. Todd hammered the spike into the beam. He hammered in the spike. He hammered it in with two hard blows.

hammer something into someone and pound something into someone

hammer someone in; pound someone in Fig. to teach something to someone intensively, as if one were driving the information in by force. Her parents had hammered good manners into her head since she was a child. They hammered in good manners every day. They pounded proper behavior into the children.

hammer into

1. To drive something through some surface by striking it with a hammer: The carpenter hammered a nail into the board.

2. To teach or inculcate something to someone by constant, intense repetition: The teacher hammered the multiplication tables into the pupils.