Anvil

Definitions

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.

Equivalents

Examples

“My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow, Which beats upon it like⟳ the Cyclops’ hammers […]”

“I saw⟳ a smith stand⟳ with his hammer⟳, thus, The whilst his iron⟳ did on the anvil cool, With open⟳ mouth swallowing a tailor’s news […]”

“1794, William Blake, “The Tyger,” lines 15-16, What the anvil? what dread grasp / Dare its deadly terrors clasp?”

“Thus at the flaming forge of life / Our fortunes must be wrought; / Thus on its sounding anvil shaped / Each burning deed and thought!”

“With an anvil-ding / And with fire in him forge thy will / Or rather, rather then, stealing as Spring⟳ / Through him, melt⟳ him but master him still: [...]”

CEFR level