anvil

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an·vil

(ăn′vĭl)

a. A heavy block of iron or steel with a smooth, flat top on which metals are shaped by hammering.

b. Something resembling an anvil, as in shape or function.

2. The fixed jaw in a set of calipers against which an object to be measured is placed.

3. Anatomy See incus.

[Middle English anfilt, from Old English; see pel- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

anvil

(ˈænvɪl)

1. (Metallurgy) a heavy iron or steel block on which metals are hammered during forging

2. any part having a similar shape or function, such as the lower part of a telegraph key

3. (Mechanical Engineering) the fixed jaw of a measurement device against which the piece to be measured is held

4. (Anatomy) anatomy the nontechnical name for incus

[Old English anfealt; related to Old High German anafalz, Middle Dutch anvilte; see on, felt²]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

an•vil

(ˈæn vɪl)

n.

1. a heavy iron block with a smooth face, frequently of steel, on which heated metals are hammered into desired shapes.

2. anything having a similar form or use.

3. the fixed jaw in certain measuring instruments.

4. incus.

[before 900; Middle English anvelt, anfelt, Old English anfilt(e), anfealt, c. Middle Dutch anvilte, Old High German anafalz. See on, felt²]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	anvil - a heavy block of iron or steel on which hot metals are shaped by hammering block - a solid piece of something (usually having flat rectangular sides); "the pyramids were built with large stone blocks" smithy, forge - a workplace where metal is worked by heating and hammering
	2.	anvil - the ossicle between the malleus and the stapes incus auditory ossicle - ossicles of the middle ear that transmit acoustic vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear middle ear, tympanic cavity, tympanum - the main cavity of the ear; between the eardrum and the inner ear

Translations

سِنْدان

kovadlina

ambolt

Amboss

αμόνι άκμονας

yunque

alasi

alasin

enclumeincus

סדן

üllõ

steîji

incudine

incus

priekalas

lakta

nákova

бабка

anvil

[ˈænvɪl] N → yunque m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

anvil

[ˈænvɪl] n → enclume f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

anvil

n → Amboss m (also Anat)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

anvil

[ˈænvɪl] n → incudine f

anvil

(ˈӕnvil) noun

a block, usually of iron, on which metal objects (eg horse-shoes) are hammered into shape. the blacksmith's anvil.

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References in classic literature ?

With matted beard, and swathed in a bristling shark-skin apron, about mid-day, Perth was standing between his forge and anvil, the latter placed upon an iron-wood log, with one hand holding a pike-head in the coals, and with the other at his forge's lungs, when captain ahab came along, carrying in his hand a small rusty-looking leathern bag.

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While I am hammering on the anvil, you sleep on the mat; and when I begin to eat after my toil, you wake up and wag your tail for food.

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'If you are stronger, I will let you go--come, we will try.' Then he led him by dark passages to a smith's forge, took an axe, and with one blow struck an anvil into the ground.

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Now the reality was in my hold, I only felt that I was dusty with the dust of small coal, and that I had a weight upon my daily remembrance to which the anvil was a feather.

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Ye know only the sparks of the spirit: but ye do not see the anvil which it is, and the cruelty of its hammer!

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If we look at it in another way, we see how absurd it is: if I had an anvil in me would I prize it?

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Striking through the thought of his dear ones was sound which he could neither ignore nor understand, a sharp, distinct, metallic percussion like the stroke of a blacksmith's hammer upon the anvil; it had the same ringing quality.

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His hand brought the circlet of red- yellow, as though it were a plate of red gold, of refined gold smelted over the edge of the anvil, to his brow as a sign of his charioteering, as a distinction to his master.

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On this the mighty monster hobbled off from his anvil, his thin legs plying lustily under him.

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Silk-gowned professor of languages, give your arm to this sturdy blacksmith, and deem yourself honored by the conjunction, though you behold him grimy from the anvil. All varieties of human speech are like his mother tongue to this rare man.

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For a brazen anvil falling down from heaven nine nights and days would reach the earth upon the tenth: and again, a brazen anvil falling from earth nine nights and days would reach Tartarus upon the tenth.

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In the middle of this chamber, two smiths, with hammers, stood beside an anvil. Hugh walked straight up to them, and set his foot upon it with a sound as though it had been struck by a heavy weapon.