smithery
(ˈsmɪθərɪ)
[f. smith n. + -ery. Cf. Fris. smidterij, smitterij, Du. smederij, G. schmiederei.]
1. The trade, occupation, or art of a smith; smithcraft, smithing, smith-work.
| 1625 A. Gill Sacr. Philos. ii. xxiv. 188 All the objects of Smithery, locks, guns, swords, and the like. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Somerset. iii. (1662) 21 More I have not to say of Dunstan, save that..his skill in Smithery was so great [etc.]. 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 128 Their chief Handicraft, with which they are acquainted, being the Smithery. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Lock, The Lock is reckon'd the Masterpiece in Smithery. 1841 Faraday in Bence Jones Life (1870) II. 146, I love a smith's shop and anything relating to smithery. 1850 K. H. Digby Compitum III. 201 Different labours, such as..masonry, carpentry, smithery, and saddlery. |
| attrib. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. ii. 128 Leave we him at the Furnace in Smithery-work. |
b. In
fig. uses.
| 1796 Burke Let. to Noble Lord Wks. II. 271 The din of all this smithery may some time or other possibly wake this noble duke. 1831 De Quincey Whiggism in Relat. to Lit. Wks. 1859 VI. 33 From all this sonorous smithery of harsh words..nothing adequate emerged. |
2. The forge or workshop of a smith; a smithy;
esp. in British Admiralty dockyards, the building in which the smith-work is done.
| 1755 in Johnson. 1861 Times 24 May 7/8 The ironworks at Chatham consisted of a mere wreck of a smithery. 1871 Daily News 5 Sept., An extensive range of black sheds near the sawmills in the Royal Arsenal..are about to be removed, and replaced by a large smithery. |