| 释义 |
▪ 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.
a800Corpus Gl. (Sweet O.E.T.) 1071 Incuda, onfilti. c1000ælfric Gram. ix. §33. 60 Incus, anfilt. c1000in Wright Voc. 286/2 Cudo, anfilte. c1369Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 1165 As his brothers hamers ronge, Vpon his anuelt vp and downe [v.r. anuelet]. c1380Sir Ferumb. 1308 Anuylt, tange & slegge. 1388Wyclif Ecclus. xxxviii. 29 A smyth sittynge bisidis the anefelt. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvi. iv, Golde..bitwene þe anfelde [1495 andfelde] and þe hamoure..streccheþ in to golde foyle. 1413Lydg. Pylgr. Sowle iv. xxx. (1483) 78 Harder than the hamour or the aneuelt. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 358/1 They smyte on the stythye or anduell. a1500Virgilius in Thoms Prose Rom. II. 44 They smyte vpon a anuilde. 1530Palsgr. 740 To stryke with his hammer upon his anvelde. 1543Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. iv. 14 d, A styth, or hanfeld. 1589Warner Alb. Eng. vi. xxx. (1612) 147 Vulcan..limping from the Anfeeld. 1607Hieron Wks. I. 439 Wee be like the smiths dog, who, the harder the anuile is beaten on, lieth by, and sleepes the sounder. 1611Bible Isa. xli. 7 Him that smote the anuill. 1808Scott Marm. v. vi, The armourer's anvil clashed and rang.
2. a. fig. (the whole expression being usually metaphorical).
1534Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) E ij, My spyrite is betwene the harde anuielde and the importunate hammer. c1593Spenser Sonnet xxxii, The playnts and prayers with which I Doe beat on th' anduyle of her stubberne wit. 1605Camden Rem. 200 Hammering me vpon the anvild. 1677R. Gilpin Dæmonol. Sacr. (1867) 214 Our present posture doth furnish him [Satan] with arguments; he forgeth his javelins upon our anvil. 1845Ford Handbk. Spain i. 59 They have yet to learn that the stomach is the anvil whereon health is forged. 1864Burton Scot Abr. I. i. 34 Hardened on the anvil of a war for national freedom. 1883Sir 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.
1623Howell Lett. (1650) II. 29 Matters while they are in agitation and upon the anvill. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. ii. 110 The Earl of Strafford..whose destruction was then upon the anvil. 1755Mem. Capt. P. Drake II. iii. 154 There was Rumours of a Peace being on the Anvil. 1785Burke 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.
1678Butler Hud. iii. i. 340 When less Delinquents have been scourg'd, And Hemp on wooden Anvils forg'd. 1881Greener 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.’
[1594T. 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.] 1687Death's Vision iii. 21 When the Perceptive Hammer shall not..Consign Prescribed Blow Unto the Wonted Anvil. 1718J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. I. xiii. §5 The Auditory Bones are four in Number, the Hammer, the Anvil, etc. 1879Calderwood Mind & Brain 71 The head of the hammer rests on the central bone known as the anvil.
c. In full anvil cloud (see quots.).
1894W. C. Ley Cloudland v. 80 It is not difficult to understand the nature of the environment in which the Anvil cloud has its birth. 1903S. 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. 1920G. 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.
1677Cleveland's Poems Ep. Ded. A iij b, Venus is again unequally yoaked with a sooty Anvile-beater. 1870Bryant Homer II. xviii. 219 He spake, and from his anvil-block arose. 1876G. M. Hopkins Wr. Deutschland (1918) st. 10 With an anvil-ding And with fire in him forge thy will. 1851Melville Whale xlvii. 303 The anvil-headed whale. 1616Beaum. & Fl. Faithf. Fr. ii. iii, Though their scull-caps be of anvil-proof, This blade shall hammer some of 'em. 1862Dana 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. 1831J. 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.
1607Dekker Wh. Babylon F iij, Whilest our thunderbolts Are anuiling abroad. c1700Gentl. Instr. (1732) 303 You are now anvilling out some petty Revenge. 1748Richardson Clarissa (1811) VIII. 267 A roguery..ready anvilled and hammered for execution.
2. intr. To work at an anvil.
1882Manch. Guard. 7 June, Thomas anvilled away at burning horse-shoes. |