anvil

English

An anvil

Micrometer: note the anvil on the left

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.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /ˈæn.vəl/, /ˈæn.vɪl/
(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈæn.vɪl/
- Audio (UK) (file)

Noun

anvil (plural anvils)

A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
- 1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, OCLC 837836359, [Act I]:
  My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,
  Which beats upon it like the Cyclops’ hammers […]
- c. 1596, William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene ii]:
  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?
- 1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “[Miscellaneous.] The Village Blacksmith.”, in Ballads and Other Poems, 2nd edition, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, published 1842, OCLC 978271908, stanza 8, page 102:
  Thus at the flaming forge of life / Our fortunes must be wrought; / Thus on its sounding anvil shaped / Each burning deed and thought!
- 1875–1876, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, OCLC 5093462, part 1, stanza 10, page 14:
  With an anvil-ding / And with fire in him forge thy will / Or rather, rather then, stealing as Spring / Through him, melt him but master him still: [...]
(anatomy) The incus bone in the middle ear.
A stone or other hard surface used by a bird for breaking the shells of snails.
The non-moving surface of a micrometer against which the item to be measured is placed.
(meteorology) A horizontal-topped mass of cloud, shaped like a blacksmith's anvil, that forms before a thunderstorm.

Synonyms

stithy

Derived terms

anvil cloud
anvilicious
between the hammer and the anvil
diamond anvil cell
hammer and anvil
on the anvil

Translations

block used in blacksmithing

Albanian: kudhër (sq)
Abkhaz: аԥсангьари́ (apsangʲarí)
Afrikaans: aambeeld (af)
Arabic: سَنْدان‎ m (sandān), سِنْدَان‎ m (sindān)
Armenian: զնդան (hy) (zndan), սալ (hy) (sal)
Asturian: xunque m
Azerbaijani: zindan, dəmirçi zindanı
Bashkir: һандал (handal), түш (tüş)
Basque: ingude
Belarusian: кава́дла n (kavádla)
Bengali: নিহাই (nihai)
Breton: annev (br) f
Bulgarian: накова́лня f (nakoválnja)
Buryat: дүшэ (düše)
Catalan: enclusa (ca) f
Cebuano: yungki
Chechen: нуьйжа (nüjža)
Cherokee: ᎠᏐᏗᏔᎷᎩᏍᎩᎤᎵᎩ (asoditalugisgiuligi)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 鐵砧／铁砧 (zh) (tiězhēn)
Chuvash: сунтал (sunt̬al)
Cornish: anwan f
Crimean Tatar: gürsü
Czech: kovadlina (cs) f
Dalmatian: ancusene f
Danish: ambolt (da) c
Dutch: aambeeld (nl) n, aanbeeld (nl) n
Esperanto: amboso
Estonian: alasi (et)
Faroese: stiði m, steðji m, amboltur m
Finnish: alasin (fi)
French: enclume (fr) f
Friulian: incuin, lincuin
Galician: bigornia (gl) f, engra (gl) f, incle m, ingre m, zafra f
Georgian: გრდემლი (grdemli)
German: Amboss (de) m
Greek: αμόνι (el) n (amóni)
Ancient: ἄκμων m (ákmōn), μύδρος m (múdros)
Hebrew: סַדָּן‎ (he) m (sadán)
Hindi: निहाई (hi) f (nihāī)
Hungarian: üllő (hu)
Icelandic: steðji m, ambolti m
Indonesian: tulang landasan (id), paron (id)
Irish: inneoin f
Italian: incudine (it) f
Japanese: 金床 (かなとこ, kanatoko)
Javanese: landesan, paron
Kalmyk: дәш (däsh)
Kazakh: төс (tös)
Korean: 모루 (moru)
Kyrgyz: дөшү (ky) (döşü)
Latin: incūs f
Latvian: lakta (lv) f
Lithuanian: priekalas
Macedonian: накова́лна f (nakoválna)
Malay: andas, landasan (ms), paron
Marathi: ऐरण f (airaṇ)
Middle English: anvelt, stith, stithy
Mongolian: дөш (mn) (döš)
Nogai: сандал (sandal)
Norwegian: ambolt (no) m, ste (no) n
Occitan: enclutge (oc) m
Old East Slavic: ковальнꙗ (kovalĭnja)
Old Norse: steði m
Persian: سندان‎ (fa) (sendân)
Plautdietsch: Aumbolt m
Polish: kowadło (pl) n
Portuguese: bigorna (pt) f
Punjabi: ਅਹਰਣ f pl (aharaṇ)
Romanian: nicovală (ro), ilău (ro)
Romansch: mazza f, mass, massa, inchüna, anchüna
Russian: накова́льня (ru) f (nakoválʹnja)
Sardinian: incódina, incódine, incúdina, incúdine, incútine, alcútina, ancódina
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: наковањ m
Roman: nakovanj (sh) m
Sicilian: ncùnia (scn) f
Sindhi: سَنداڻُ‎ (sd) (sandāṇ)
Slovak: nákova f
Slovene: nakovalo n
Spanish: yunque (es) m, bigornia (es) f
Sudovian: preikalis
Swahili: fuawe
Swedish: städ (sv) n
Tagalog: palihan
Tamil: பட்டடை (ta) (paṭṭaṭai)
Tatar: сандал (tt) (sandal)
Telugu: దాగిలి (dāgili)
Thai: ทั่ง (th) (tâng)
Turkish: örs (tr)
Turkmen: sandal
Tuvan: дөжү (döjü)
Ukrainian: кова́дло (uk) f (kovádlo)
Uzbek: sandon (uz)
Venetian: ancùxene (vec) f, encuzen f, incuzene f, incuxene f, ancuzen f
Vietnamese: (cái) đe (vi)
Walloon: ^{(please verify)} eglome (wa) f, ^{(please verify)} egloume (wa) f
Welsh: einion f
Yakut: кыстык (kıstık)
Yiddish: קאָוואַדלע‎ f (kovadle)

bone in inner ear

Afrikaans: aambeeld (af), incus
Armenian: սալ (hy) (sal)
Azerbaijani: zindan sümükcüyü
Basque: ingude
Breton: annev (br)
Bulgarian: наковалня (nakovalnja)
Catalan: enclusa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 砧骨 (zh) (zhēngǔ)
Czech: kovadlina (cs) f
Danish: ambolt (da) c
Dutch: aambeeld (nl) n, aanbeeld (nl) n, aambeeldsbeentje (nl) n, aanbeeldsbeentje n
Estonian: alasi (et)
Finnish: alasin (fi), alasinluu (fi)
French: enclume (fr) f, incus (fr)
Galician: bigornia (gl) f
Georgian: გრდემლის ძვალი (grdemlis ʒvali)
German: Amboss (de) m
Greek: αμόνι (el) n (amóni), άκμονας (el) (ákmonas)
Gujarati: એરણ (gu) (eraṇ)
Hungarian: üllő (hu)
Icelandic: steðji m
Indonesian: tulang landasan (id)
Italian: incudine (it) f
Japanese: 砧骨 (ja) (きぬたこつ, kinutakotsu)
Kachchi: એણ (eṇa)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: dezge (ku)
Latin: incūs
Macedonian: накова́лна f (nakoválna)
Malay: andas
Maori: kurutangi
Norwegian: ambolt (no) m
Polish: kowadełko (pl) n
Portuguese: bigorna (pt) f
Romanian: nicovală (ro) f
Russian: накова́льня (ru) (nakoválʹnja)
Serbo-Croatian: nakovanj (sh)
Slovak: nákovka f
Slovene: nakovalce (sl) n
Spanish: yunque (es) m
Swedish: städ (sv) n
Thai: กระดูกทั่ง (grà-dùuk-tâng)
Turkish: örs (tr)
Ukrainian: кова́делко n (kovádelko)

Verb

anvil (third-person singular simple present anvils, present participle anvilling or anviling, simple past and past participle anvilled or anviled)

(transitive, often figurative) To fashion on, or as if on, an anvil.
- 1648, Abraham Cowley, The Foure Ages of England, or, The Iron Age with Other Select Poems, London, Postscript,
  I Have anvil’d out this Iron Age,
  Which I commit, not to your patronage,
  But skill and Art […]
- 1671, John Ogilby (translator), Atlas Chinensis, London, “A Third Embassy to the Emperor of China and East-Tartary,” p. 291,
  The Family Tang caus’d an Iron Pillar to be erected there of three Rods high, and of a proportionable thickness, Anvil’d out of an intire Piece.
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XCII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume VII, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], OCLC 13631815, page 341:
  I never started a roguery, that did not come out of thy forge in a manner ready anvilled and hammered for execution […]

Anagrams

Alvin, Lavin, Vilna, nival, vinal