blacksmith
Americannoun
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a person who makes horseshoes and shoes horses.
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a person who forges objects of iron.
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a blackish damselfish, Chromis punctipinnis, inhabiting coastal waters off southern California.
noun
Etymology
Origin of blacksmith
1250–1300; Middle English; see black (in reference to iron or black metal), smith ( def. ); cf. whitesmith
Explanation
A blacksmith is someone who makes tools and other objects out of metal. Working as a blacksmith involves heating metal then bending and hammering it into the desired shape. Blacksmiths mainly work with iron and steel, heating it until it's soft enough to bend, fold, and shape using tools. A blacksmith can make things like wrought iron fences and gates, knives and other cooking utensils, and metal light fixtures. While today many metal items once made by blacksmiths are mass produced in factories, there's a renewed interest in learning to make metal objects by hand.
Vocabulary lists containing blacksmith
The Cardboard Kingdom
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After some trial and error, he and a local blacksmith retrofitted a hand-cranked coffee mill so that it could efficiently twist wire into uniform barbs.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026
So he reduced the business, now run by his son Gareth, to a manageable size with his son-in-law blacksmith and two daughters also involved.
From BBC • Dec. 6, 2025
Historical markings along Caliente-Bodfish Road indicate buildings that once existed: barbershop, a blacksmith, the Grand Inn and a livery stable.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 4, 2024
Shortly afterward Hugh the blacksmith and his wife and child are being crushed by the crowds desperately pushing against the soldiers standing in the way of their freedom.
From Salon • Jul. 18, 2024
“So,” said my convict, turning his eyes on Joe in a moody manner, and without the least glance at me,—“so you’re the blacksmith, are you? Than I’m sorry to say, I’ve eat your pie.”
From "Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
