Word
anvil
US/ˈænvəɫ/
UK/ˈænvəl/
Definition
n. a heavy block of iron or steel with a flat top. Blacksmiths use it to rest hot metal on while they hit it with a hammer to change its shape.
n. a heavy iron or steel block with a flat top and typically a pointed end, upon which hot metals are hammered and shaped. Often used as a metaphor for a passive surface that receives heavy blows.
Examples
“The blacksmith struck the red-hot iron on the anvil.”
“He placed the glowing horseshoe on the anvil to flatten the edges before cooling it in water.”
“The rhythmic clang of the hammer meeting the anvil echoed through the village, signaling that the smithy was busy with the day's repairs.”
Examples
simple
“The blacksmith struck the red-hot iron on the anvil.”
contextual
“He placed the glowing horseshoe on the anvil to flatten the edges before cooling it in water.”
complex
“The rhythmic clang of the hammer meeting the anvil echoed through the village, signaling that the smithy was busy with the day's repairs.”
Usage
Commonly used in the idiom 'between the hammer and the anvil' to describe being caught between two opposing forces.
Real-World Examples
“So when producers Warner Bros initially decided to shelve the whole thing as a tax writeoff, that must have felt to director Dave Green like an ironic cartoon anvil to the head.” Etymology
From Middle English anfilt, anvelt, anfelt, from late Old English anfilt, anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti (“anvil”), from Proto-West Germanic anafalt (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of ana (“on”) + falt (“beaten”) (compare German falzen (“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialectal filta (“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European pelh₂-t- (“shaken, beaten”) (compare Middle Irish lethar (“leather”), Latin pellō (“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to toss, brandish”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move”). More at felon.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/anvil