anvil
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).
Origin of anvil
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use anvil in a sentence
Violent cartoons where coyotes would drop anvils from red stone desert cliffs on innocent passing roadrunners.
Also there were hammers and anvils and soldering irons and a charcoal furnace and many other tools such as a tinsmith works with.
The Tin Woodman of Oz | L. Frank BaumIt is better to begin with a few anvils and tools and to add one or two at a time as the need is felt for a more varied supply.
Copper Work | Augustus F. RoseTiny hammers pattered on miniature anvils in a tinkling, jingling chorus of musical clinks and taps.
The Door Through Space | Marion Zimmer BradleyThus has poor mortality been beaten and shapen on the anvils of compulsion and exigency.
Feminism and Sex-Extinction | Arabella Kenealy
There were eight splitters and fencers, besides Charley Anvils, the blacksmith, and two bullock drivers.
British Dictionary definitions for anvil
/ (ˈænvɪl) /
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
Origin of anvil
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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