blacksmith

blacksmith
/blak"smith'/, n.
1. a person who makes horseshoes and shoes horses.
2. a person who forges objects of iron.
3. a blackish damselfish, Chromis punctipinnis, inhabiting coastal waters off southern California.
[1250-1300; ME; see BLACK (in reference to iron or black metal), SMITH1; cf. WHITESMITH]

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also called  smith,  

      craftsman who fabricates objects out of iron (ironwork) by hot and cold forging on an anvil. Blacksmiths who specialized in the forging of shoes for horses were called farriers. The term blacksmith derives from iron, formerly called “black metal,” and farrier from the Latin ferrum, “iron.”

      Iron replaced bronze for use in tools and weapons in the late 2nd and the 1st millennia BC, and from then until the Industrial Revolution, blacksmiths made by hand most of the wrought iron objects used in the world. The blacksmith's essential equipment consists of a forge, or furnace, in which smelted iron is heated so that it can be worked easily; an anvil, a heavy, firmly secured, steel-surfaced block upon which the piece of iron is worked; tongs to hold the iron on the anvil; and hammers, chisels, and other implements to cut, shape, flatten, or weld the iron into the desired object.

      Blacksmiths made an immense variety of common objects used in everyday life: nails, screws, bolts, and other fasteners; sickles, plowshares, axes, and other agricultural implements; hammers and other tools used by artisans; candlesticks and other household objects; swords, shields, and armour; wheel rims and other metal parts in wagons and carriages; fireplace fittings and implements; spikes, chains, and cables used on ships; and the ironwork, both functional and decorative, used in furniture and in the building trades. (See also ironwork.)

      The blacksmith's most frequent occupation, however, was farriery. In horseshoeing (horseshoe), the blacksmith first cleans and shapes the sole and rim of the horse's hoof with rasps and knives, a process painless to the animal owing to the tough, horny, and nerveless character of the hoof. He then selects a U-shaped iron shoe of appropriate size from his stock and, heating it red-hot in a forge, modifies its shape to fit the hoof, cools it by quenching it in water, and affixes it to the hoof with nails.

      Most towns and villages had a blacksmith's shop where horses were shod and tools, farm implements, and wagons and carriages were repaired. The ubiquity of the profession can be inferred, in the English-speaking world, from the prevalence of the surname “Smith.” Blacksmiths also came to be general-purpose repairers of farm equipment and other machinery in the 19th century. By then, however, blacksmithing was already on the decline, as more and more metal articles formerly made by hand were shaped in factories by machines or made by inexpensive casting processes. In the industrialized world, even the blacksmith's mainstay, farriery, has greatly declined with the disappearance of horses from use in agriculture and transport.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Blacksmith — Black smith , n. [Black (in allusion to the color of the metal) + smith. Cf. {Whitesmith}.] 1. A smith who works in iron with a forge, and makes iron utensils, horseshoes, etc. [1913 Webster] The blacksmith may forge what he pleases. Howell.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • blacksmith — late 15c. (mid 13c. as a surname), from BLACK (Cf. black) + SMITH (Cf. smith). Listed in royal ordinance (along with bladesmiths, spurriers and goldbeaters). Those who work in heated, heavy metals as opposed to those who beat gold, tin, or pewter …   Etymology dictionary

  • blacksmith — ► NOUN 1) a person who makes and repairs things in iron by hand. 2) a person who shoes horses; a farrier …   English terms dictionary

  • blacksmith — [blak′smith΄] n. [< black metal, former name for iron] a smith who works in iron, including the making and fitting of horseshoes …   English World dictionary

  • Blacksmith — For other uses, see Blacksmith (disambiguation). Blacksmith A blacksmith at work Occupation …   Wikipedia

  • blacksmith — UK [ˈblækˌsmɪθ] / US noun [countable] Word forms blacksmith : singular blacksmith plural blacksmiths someone whose job is to make things out of metal …   English dictionary

  • blacksmith — noun Blacksmith is used after these nouns: ↑village …   Collocations dictionary

  • blacksmith — [[t]blæ̱ksmɪθ[/t]] blacksmiths N COUNT A blacksmith is a person whose job is making things by hand out of metal that has been heated to a high temperature …   English dictionary

  • Blacksmith Institute — Contexte général Champs d’action écologisme Zone d’influence monde entier …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Blacksmith (disambiguation) — Blacksmith may refer to:* Blacksmith, an artisan specializing in the hand wrought manufacture of ferrous (iron) metal objectsalso:People* Henkka Blacksmith Seppälä, a bassist with the Finnish metal band Children of BodomPlaces* Blacksmiths, New… …   Wikipedia

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