blacksmith
Americannoun
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blacksmiths
plural
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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
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
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
Became a blacksmith — he put the shoes on the horses that Barton and his constables were going to use to pursue Las Manillas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2025
"What they've done to transform it is remarkable", said the former railway blacksmith, who has lived in Swindon's historical railway village since 1968.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2024
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
“We have to do something about this one. The blacksmith said he’s the one who started the fire in your barn.”
From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack
Metals get softer when they are heated, which is how blacksmiths can form iron into complex shapes by heating it red hot.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2024
The amateur blacksmiths were hard at work: heating metal rods, then hammering them into shape.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 25, 2023
They were doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists, teachers, politicians, engineers, blacksmiths, generals, soldiers, artists, poets, writers, artisans, farmers, explorers, businesspeople, philosophers, and people from a range of other backgrounds.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2023
New businesses that sold and repaired cars replaced blacksmiths and stables.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
The sound of the blacksmiths hammer on his anvil reminded me of Polly, our tardy serving girl.
From "Fever 1793" by Laurie Halse Anderson
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.
