anvil

American  

[an-vil] / ˈæn vɪl /

noun

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

2. anything having a similar form or use.

3. the fixed jaw in certain measuring instruments.

4. Also called anvil cloud,.  Also called anvil top.  Meteorology. incus.

5. a musical percussion instrument having steel bars that are struck with a wooden or metal beater.

6. Anatomy. incus.

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anvil British  

/ ˈænvɪl /

noun

1. 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. the fixed jaw of a measurement device against which the piece to be measured is held

4. anatomy the nontechnical name for incus

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Etymology

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, felt ²

Explanation

An anvil is a heavy block of iron or steel that blacksmiths use to shape metal. It's durable enough to withstand red hot metals and repeated hammer blows, but you don't want your foot to be under if it falls off the table. We most often associate anvils with metalworking (or cartoon coyotes standing in the wrong place at the wrong time), but did you know that there is also a tiny bone in the middle ear called the anvil? It works with other small bones to transmit vibrations that allow us to hear noises. Scientists also call this bone the incus, but it got the name anvil because of its similarity to the blacksmith’s tool. They may be the same shape, but the bone weighs a few milligrams, while the tool can weigh hundreds of pounds.

Example Sentences

To meet these challenges, the team built a diamond anvil cell system combined with laser heating and high-temperature imaging.

From Science Daily • Dec. 26, 2025

The balls, which were delivered directly from the manufacturer to the officiating crew before each game, could be so stiff that kickers felt like they were driving their foot into an anvil.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 6, 2025

Every fourth or fifth joke has the air of having been hammered out on an anvil, and a few might have been better left in the smithery.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 31, 2025

One space had a section in the floor that was likely to have held an anvil as archaeologists found bits of broken metal around it.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2025

Around the perimeter were rows of shops easily identified by the crests over their doors: a cleaver and a pig for the butcher, an anvil for the blacksmith, crossed wooden peels for the baker.

From "The Reader" by Traci Chee