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

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

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

“Being back in the studio helps give me a sense of normalcy,” Berkofsky said as he hammered the red-hot Damascus steel on an anvil.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2025

The pitted iron hardware deep lilac in color, smeltered in some bloomery in Cadiz or Bristol and beaten out on a blackened anvil, good to last three hundred years against the sea.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy