anvil

«anvil» in Mova's school dictionary: A heavy iron block with a flat top on which a blacksmith… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (an anvil, anvils)

meaning for a pupil

1) A heavy iron block with a flat top on which a blacksmith hammers hot metal into shape. tree →

2) A tiny bone in the middle ear, also called the incus. tree →

3) (weather) The flat, spreading top of a big thundercloud. tree →

sense in the lessons

In history and stories the anvil belongs to blacksmiths, who hammer horseshoes and swords on it. In science lessons the ear has three tiny bones: hammer, anvil and stirrup. In cartoons an anvil often falls on a character's head. Phrases: «hammer and anvil», «anvil cloud».

examples

• The blacksmith hammered the red-hot horseshoe on the anvil. tree →
• Clang! went the hammer on the anvil. tree →
• The anvil is one of the three tiny bones in your ear. tree →
• A storm cloud with an anvil top can bring thunder and hail. tree →
• In the cartoon an anvil fell on the coyote. tree →
• An anvil is so heavy that it doesn't move when you hit it. tree →
• Cursed be the smith who forged it, and the anvil on which it was wrought!’ tree →

note

Countable, use «an»: an anvil. Stress: AN-vil.

In the corpora

• The tuskfish carries a clam in its mouth and smashes it on a rock, using the rock as an anvil.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «anvil» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.