Definition of "hammerlock" [hammerlock]

• A wrestling hold in which the opponent's arm is pulled behind the back and twisted upward. (noun)
• Overwhelming dominance that is difficult if not impossible to overcome: "has preserved its hammerlock on the business largely because of its reputation for quality” ( Fortune). (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Brokers don't like the fact that the combined group will have a hammerlock on Europe's futures markets—which they say makes it tougher for newcomers and raises the specter of high fees."
• "We need to break the hammerlock of the East Coast, particularly the Ivies, on power in this country."
• "You may despair that the rationality required to face up to reality will never overcome the fundamentalism, know-nothingism and magic thinking that has a hammerlock on our national psyche."