Anvil Definition

ănvĭl
anvils
noun
anvils
A heavy block of iron or steel with a smooth, flat top on which metals are shaped by hammering.
American Heritage
An iron or steel block on which metal objects are hammered into shape.
Webster's New World
Something resembling an anvil, as in shape or function.
American Heritage
The incus, one of the three bones of the middle ear.
Webster's New World
The fixed jaw in a set of calipers against which an object to be measured is placed.
American Heritage

Other Word Forms of Anvil

Noun

Singular:
anvil
Plural:
anvils

Origin of Anvil

  • Middle English anfilt, anvelt, from late Old English anfilte, anfealt, from earlier onfilti, from Proto-Germanic *anafeltaz (compare Middle Dutch anvilte, Low German Anfilts, Anefilt, Old High German anafalz), compound of *ana (“on”) + *feltaz (“beaten”) (compare German falzen (“to groove, fold, welt”), Swedish dialect filta (“to beat”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂-t- (“shaken, beaten”) (compare Irish lethar (“leather”), Latin pultō, pulsō (“to beat, strike”), Ancient Greek [script?] (pállein) ‘to toss, brandish’), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move”). More at felon.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English anfilt from Old English pel-5 in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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