anvil
[an-vil]
- a heavy iron block with a smooth face, frequently of steel, on which metals, usually heated until soft, are hammered into desired shapes.
- anything having a similar form or use.
- the fixed jaw in certain measuring instruments.
- Also called anvil cloud, anvil top. Meteorology. incus(def 2).
- a musical percussion instrument having steel bars that are struck with a wooden or metal beater.
- Anatomy. incus(def 1).
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Origin of anvil
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for anvil
Contemporary Examples
INSIDER TIP: Anvil is not for the faint of wallet: fresh ingredients set imbibers back $8-$12 per cocktail.
Murmelstein was stuck with a thankless and impossible job, caught between the hammer and the anvil, as he tells us.
Confessions of a Death Camp Collaborator: Claude Lanzmann’s ‘The Last of the Unjust’Jimmy So
February 7, 2014
He seems relieved—like an anvil has been lifted from his shoulders—and so are we.
'Breaking Bad's' Series Finale Cements Its Status As One of the All-Time GreatsAndrew Romano
September 30, 2013
If we had these rules, everybody would have known what was going on at JPMorgan Chase long before the anvil dropped on their head.
But the popularity of the league is absolutely irrelevant anyway in terms of race: It still hovers like an anvil.
Historical Examples
He sat down on the anvil with his heart beating, and began to recall the picture.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
My heart was pounding until in my own ears it sounded like an anvil chorus.
The Bacillus of BeautyHarriet Stark
He was a real sleight-of-hand man, and the anvil was his orchestra.
In the Midst of AlarmsRobert Barr
In the middle of this chamber, two smiths, with hammers, stood beside an anvil.
Barnaby RudgeCharles Dickens
Rotha could hear the thick breathing of the bellows and the thin tinkle of the anvil.
The Shadow of a CrimeHall Caine
anvil
- a heavy iron or steel block on which metals are hammered during forging
- any part having a similar shape or function, such as the lower part of a telegraph key
- the fixed jaw of a measurement device against which the piece to be measured is held
- anatomy the nontechnical name for incus
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Word Origin
Old English anfealt; related to Old High German anafalz, Middle Dutch anvilte; see on, felt ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for anvil
n.
Old English anfilt, a West Germanic compound (cf. Middle Dutch anvilt, Old High German anafalz, Dutch aanbeeld, Danish ambolt "anvil") from *ana- "on" + *filtan "hit" (see felt (n.)). The ear bone so called from 1680s. Anvil Chorus is based on the "Gypsy Song" that opens Act II of Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Il Trovatore," first performed in Teatro Apollo, Rome, Jan. 19, 1853.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
anvil
(ăn′vĭl)Show More
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.