Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A powerful blow with the fist.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who cuts and dries grass for use as fodder; specifically, in England, one who follows the mowers and tosses the grass over to dry it.
  • noun An apparatus for drying and curing hay.
  • noun plural A kind of country-dance. Also called haymakers' jig.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who cuts and cures hay.
  • noun A machine for curing hay in rainy weather.
  • noun slang A forceful punch that results in someone being knocked down or knocked out.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun agriculture A person or machine which harvests or prepares tall grass for use as animal fodder.
  • noun informal 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.
  • noun figuratively, by extension Any decisive blow, shock, or forceful action.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a hard punch that renders the opponent unable to continue boxing
  • noun a farm machine that treats hay to cause more rapid and even drying

Etymologies

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Examples

  • MM, a haymaker is a wild punch or a piece of machinery.

    Cheeseburger Gothic » The Ladies Blue Room. Or something. 2010

  • Then the Wolves took a haymaker from the Pacers in the first 14 minutes.

    USATODAY.com 2007

  • It was one of those blows that is often described as a haymaker, and it made hay.

    Pirates of Venus Burroughs, Edgar Rice, 1875-1950 1962

  • The "almighty" force of what most witnesses described as an open-handed slap - one spoke of a "haymaker" - hurled him off his feet.

    Belfasttelegraph.co.uk - Frontpage RSS Feed 2009

  • In the case of Mitt Romney, it was because of the "Sunday punch" John McCain had landed -- the "haymaker" in fact, on Super Tuesday.

    Frank Mankiewicz: Boxing Metaphors: Fancy Footwork? 2008

  • According to Marquez, Chasse was punched three or four times in the face with "haymaker" punches by one police officer, and kicked three to four times in the back of his head by the other cop, "with enough force to punt a football."

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • And your "haymaker" in this argument is naming a grand total of SIX news anchors / talking heads as registered Dems?

    Think Progress 2009

  • He went on to throw what was described as a "haymaker" type punch at PC Robert Forbes, striking him a heavy blow to the face.

    Evening Mail news round-up 2009

  • According to Marquez, Chasse was punched three or four times in the face with "haymaker" punches by one police officer, and kicked three to four times in the back of his head by the other cop, "with enough force to punt a football."

    Portland Mercury 2009

  • According to Marquez, Chasse was punched three or four times in the face with "haymaker" punches by one police officer, and kicked three to four times in the back of his head by the other cop, "with enough force to punt a football."

    Portland Mercury 2009

Comments

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  • A type of punch, a wild swing with all the person's might to knock out the opponent.

    November 1, 2007

  • *ducks*

    October 10, 2008