▪ I. anvil, n.
(ˈænvɪl)
Forms: 1 onfilti, onfilt(e, anfilte, 4 anfelt, -uylt, anefelt, -feld, 4–5 anfeld, -velt, 5 aneuelt, anuylde, anduell, 5–6 andfelde, 6 anvelde, anuilde, anuielde, (hanfeld), and(e)vile, 6–7 anfeeld, anvild, anvile, anvill, 6– anvil.
[Etymol. uncertain. OE. ǫnfilti, is prob. cogn. w. ODu. dial. aenvilte (Verdam I. 184), and OHG. anafalz; f. an, on, prep. + a possible *filt-an to weld, cf. felt, Ger. filz, and falz in falz-ambosz. The f has become v as in silver, and the final t, passing through d, is lost, as is frequent in dialects.
Onfilti, anafalz, can hardly be distinct from synonymous forms with b: OHG. anabolz, LG. anebolt, anebelte, ambult, ODu. aenbilt, usually derived from *aen-billen = ‘aankloppen, to strike upon’ (Verdam 80); but more prob. an early variant of aenvilte above, due to some confusion. In OHG. anabolz, Sievers suggests a confusion of anafalz with the distinct anabôz, anapôz, MHG. aneboz, mod.G. ambosz, from an + bôz-an, Eng. beat. Mod.Du. aanbeeld, ambeld, seems assimilated to beelden, to form, fashion.]
1. The block (usually of iron) on which the smith hammers and shapes the metal which he is working.
| a 800 Corpus Gl. (Sweet O.E.T.) 1071 Incuda, onfilti. c 1000 ælfric Gram. ix. §33. 60 Incus, anfilt. c 1000 in Wright Voc. 286/2 Cudo, anfilte. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1165 As his brothers hamers ronge, Vpon his anuelt vp and downe [v.r. anuelet]. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 1308 Anuylt, tange & slegge. 1388 Wyclif Ecclus. xxxviii. 29 A smyth sittynge bisidis the anefelt. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. iv, Golde..bitwene þe anfelde [1495 andfelde] and þe hamoure..streccheþ in to golde foyle. 1413 Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxx. (1483) 78 Harder than the hamour or the aneuelt. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 358/1 They smyte on the stythye or anduell. ? a 1500 Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. II. 44 They smyte vpon a anuilde. 1530 Palsgr. 740 To stryke with his hammer upon his anvelde. 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. iv. 14 d, A styth, or hanfeld. 1589 Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 147 Vulcan..limping from the Anfeeld. 1607 Hieron Wks. I. 439 Wee be like the smiths dog, who, the harder the anuile is beaten on, lieth by, and sleepes the sounder. 1611 Bible Isa. xli. 7 Him that smote the anuill. 1808 Scott Marm. v. vi, The armourer's anvil clashed and rang. |
2. a. fig. (the whole expression being usually metaphorical).
| 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) E ij, My spyrite is betwene the harde anuielde and the importunate hammer. c 1593 Spenser Sonnet xxxii, The playnts and prayers with which I Doe beat on th' anduyle of her stubberne wit. 1605 Camden Rem. 200 Hammering me vpon the anvild. 1677 R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacr. (1867) 214 Our present posture doth furnish him [Satan] with arguments; he forgeth his javelins upon our anvil. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 59 They have yet to learn that the stomach is the anvil whereon health is forged. 1864 Burton Scot Abr. I. i. 34 Hardened on the anvil of a war for national freedom. 1883 Sir H. Brand in Standard 18 May 3/3 Matters that, so to speak, are on the anvil of the House of Commons. |
b. phr. on or upon the anvil: in preparation, in hand.
| 1623 Howell Lett. (1650) II. 29 Matters while they are in agitation and upon the anvill. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. ii. 110 The Earl of Strafford..whose destruction was then upon the anvil. 1755 Mem. Capt. P. Drake II. iii. 154 There was Rumours of a Peace being on the Anvil. 1785 Burke Nabob of Arcot Wks. 1842 I. 319 He has now on the anvil another scheme. |
3. a. transf. Anything resembling a smith's anvil in shape or use.
| 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 340 When less Delinquents have been scourg'd, And Hemp on wooden Anvils forg'd. 1881 Greener Gun 294 The anvil is shaped like an escutcheon, and is inserted in the cup of the cap, with the point against the detonating powder. |
b. esp. in Phys. One of the bones of the ear; so called from its being struck by another bone called the ‘hammer.’
| [1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. II. To Reader, Who hath fashioned the instruments of hearing in the head like to a hammer and an anvile.] 1687 Death's Vision iii. 21 When the Perceptive Hammer shall not..Consign Prescribed Blow Unto the Wonted Anvil. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. I. xiii. §5 The Auditory Bones are four in Number, the Hammer, the Anvil, etc. 1879 Calderwood Mind & Brain 71 The head of the hammer rests on the central bone known as the anvil. |
c. In full anvil cloud (see quots.).
| 1894 W. C. Ley Cloudland v. 80 It is not difficult to understand the nature of the environment in which the Anvil cloud has its birth. 1903 S. Barber Cloud World 108 Anvil Cloud. The ‘Anvil’ shape of a cloud is generally regarded as one of the best intimations of an approaching gale. 1920 G. A. Clarke Clouds iii. 39 One special feature of cumulo-nimbus is the development above the domed portion of a mass of condensation which has a shape very closely resembling an anvil, if judged by its profile appearance, but which is really a tabular flat-topped mass, rounded in plan and widest at the top. The edges of this ‘anvil’ are frayed out into the fibrous form associated with the cirrus clouds. |
4. Comb. and attrib., as anvil-block, anvil-ding, anvil-maker, etc.; also anvil-beater, a smith; anvil-headed a., having a head shaped like an anvil; anvil-proof, the standard of hardness of an anvil; anvil rock (see quot.); anvil-smith, a forger of anvils.
| 1677 Cleveland's Poems Ep. Ded. A iij b, Venus is again unequally yoaked with a sooty Anvile-beater. 1870 Bryant Homer II. xviii. 219 He spake, and from his anvil-block arose. 1876 G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. 10 With an anvil-ding And with fire in him forge thy will. 1851 Melville Whale xlvii. 303 The anvil-headed whale. 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Faithf. Fr. ii. iii, Though their scull-caps be of anvil-proof, This blade shall hammer some of 'em. 1862 Dana Man. Geol. 330 Above the twelfth [coal bed in Kentucky] there is the massive Sandstone..called the Anvil Rock, from the form of two masses of it in South-western Kentucky. 1831 J. Holland Manuf. Metal I. 90 Some anvil-smiths..forge the upper part..out of one piece of iron. |
▪ II. anvil, v.
(ˈænvɪl)
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To fashion on the anvil; chiefly fig.
| 1607 Dekker Wh. Babylon F iij, Whilest our thunderbolts Are anuiling abroad. c 1700 Gentl. Instr. (1732) 303 You are now anvilling out some petty Revenge. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 267 A roguery..ready anvilled and hammered for execution. |
2. intr. To work at an anvil.
| 1882 Manch. Guard. 7 June, Thomas anvilled away at burning horse-shoes. |