Anvil

Pronunciation

• US IPA: /ˈænvÉ™l/

Origin

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 ‘to toss, brandish’), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ("to stir, move"). More at felon.

Full definition of anvil

Noun

1. A heavy iron block used in the blacksmithing trade as a surface upon which metal can be struck and shaped.
• 1794, William Blake, , lines 15-16 (for syntax)What the anvil? what dread grasp
  Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
2. (skeleton) An incus bone in the inner ear.

Anagrams

• Alvin