Haymaker
name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A person or machine which harvests or prepares tall grass for use as animal fodder.
"A long rank of haymakers—men and women—proceeded with their rakes, the white shirt-sleeves, straw bonnets, and ruddy faces, radiant in the bath of sunshine."
- 2 a hard punch that renders the opponent unable to continue boxing wordnet
- 3 A particularly powerful punch, especially one which knocks down an opponent, thrown like a scythe chop for cutting hay, as agricultural haymakers used to have strong arms. informal
"The saga of Newt Gingrich's ethics suddenly resembles a brawl between blindfolded boxers who flail away so wildly that each lands a haymaker on his own jaw."
- 4 a farm machine that treats hay to cause more rapid and even drying wordnet
- 5 Any decisive blow, shock, or forceful action. broadly, figuratively
"The real potential haymaker for the industry is a proposal, now gaining support in Congress, that would tax the profits private equity reaps on selling companies not at the low cap gains rate, but at the regular income tax rate."
- 1 A surname.
Example
More examples"A long rank of haymakers—men and women—proceeded with their rakes, the white shirt-sleeves, straw bonnets, and ruddy faces, radiant in the bath of sunshine."
Etymology
From Middle English heymakere; equivalent to hay + maker.
An occupational surname, from haymaker.
Related phrases
More for "haymaker"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.