anvil

Definition

A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.

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.

Example Sentences

• "My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow, Which beats upon it like the Cyclops’ hammers […]"
• "I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus, The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool, With open mouth swallowing a tailor’s news […]"
• "1794, William Blake, “The Tyger,” lines 15-16, What the anvil? what dread grasp / Dare its deadly terrors clasp?"