anvil

[ an-vil ]

/ ˈæn vɪl /

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noun

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

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

Words nearby anvil

anuria, anurous, anus, Anuszkiewicz, Anvers, anvil, anxiety, anxiety attack, anxiety disorder, anxiety hysteria, anxiety neurosis

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use anvil in a sentence

Researchers aren’t just making superionic ice to play with diamond anvils.
Strange, dark, and hot ice could explain Uranus and Neptune’s wonky magnetic fields|Rahul Rao|October 25, 2021|Popular-Science
Progress took off in the 2000s, when supercomputer simulations let theorists predict the properties of various hydrides, and the widespread use of compact diamond anvils let experimentalists squeeze the most promising candidates to test their mettle.
Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time|Charlie Wood|October 14, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Add too much, and the sample will act too much like metallic hydrogen, metalizing only at pressures that will crack your diamond anvil.
Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time|Charlie Wood|October 14, 2020|Quanta Magazine
Earlier this year they predicted the conditions under which one metal that might have formed between the diamond anvils should superconduct, and they found different behavior.
Room-Temperature Superconductivity Achieved for the First Time|Charlie Wood|October 14, 2020|Quanta Magazine

INSIDER TIP: Anvil is not for the faint of wallet: fresh ingredients set imbibers back $8-$12 per cocktail.
Foodie Heaven in Houston|Michele Meyer|July 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
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 Greats|Andrew Romano|September 30, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Where were you when the coalition hammer delivered Operation Noble Anvil?
Don’t Call It a Frum-Back: What’s Changed After Three Months Away|David Frum|September 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
If we had these rules, everybody would have known what was going on at JPMorgan Chase long before the anvil dropped on their head.
Barney Frank on JPMorgan’s Contradictions, Mitt Romney’s Mistakes|Eleanor Clift|May 26, 2012|DAILY BEAST
His tombstone in the churchyard consists of an anvil and hammer, wrought in stone.
British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car|Thomas D. Murphy
We readily recognise the fact that when a hammer falls often on an anvil it heats itself and the metal on which it strikes.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
The next moment Tom's hammer was making lively music upon his anvil, and Eddie was again on his way to school.
Harper's Young People, November 30, 1880|Various
A few minutes after the blacksmith left me, I heard the hammer sounding upon the anvil in one of the caverns below.
My Ten Years' Imprisonment|Silvio Pellico
In accompaniment, some one was beating softly on the anvil, and the bellows were blowing rhythmically.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete|Gilbert Parker

British Dictionary definitions for anvil

anvil

/ (ˈænvɪl) /

noun

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

Word Origin for anvil

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for anvil

anvil

[ ăn′vĭl ]

incus

anvil

Origin of anvil

Words nearby anvil

Words related to anvil

How to use anvil in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for anvil

Word Origin for anvil

Medical definitions for anvil