anvil

Meaning

Noun

1. A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
2. The incus bone in the middle ear.
3. A stone or other hard surface used by a bird for breaking the shells of snails.
4. The non-moving surface of a micrometer against which the item to be measured is placed.
5. A horizontal-topped mass of cloud, shaped like a blacksmith's anvil, that forms before a thunderstorm.

Verb

To fashion on, or as if on, an anvil.

Synonyms

incus

stithy

log

pestle

bick-iron

ram block

bickiron

gauge button

hammer

🔨

hammer anvil

last

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈæn.vəl/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: anfilt

Inherited from Old English: anfilt

Cognate with Middle Dutch: anvilte

Cognate with Low German: Anfilts

Cognate with Old High German: anafalz

Cognate with German: falzen

Cognate with Swedish: -

Cognate with Middle Irish: lethar

Cognate with Latin: pellō

Cognate with Ancient Greek: πάλλω

In summary

From Middle English anfilt, anvelt, anfelt, from late Old English anfilt, anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti (“anvil”), from Proto-West Germanic *anafalt (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of *ana (“on”) + *falt (“beaten”) (compare German falzen (“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialectal filta (“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-t- (“shaken, beaten”) (compare Middle Irish lethar (“leather”), Latin pellō (“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek πάλλω (pállō, “to toss, brandish”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move”). More at felon.