Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A metalworker, especially one who works metal when it is hot and malleable. Often used in combination.
  • noun A blacksmith.
  • noun One who makes or works at something specified. Often used in combination.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To fashion, as metal; especially, to fashion with the hammer: at the present time most commonly applied to ironwork.
  • noun An artificer; especially, a worker with the hammer and in metal: as, a goldsmith, a silversmith; specifically (and now generally), a worker in iron. See blacksmith, 1.
  • noun One who makes or effects anything.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb obsolete To beat into shape; to forge.
  • noun One who forges with the hammer; one who works in metals.
  • noun rare One who makes or effects anything.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.
  • noun archaic An artist.
  • verb To forge, to form, usually on an anvil; by heating and pounding.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun United States singer noted for her rendition of patriotic songs (1909-1986)
  • noun English explorer who helped found the colony at Jamestown, Virginia; was said to have been saved by Pocahontas (1580-1631)
  • noun United States sculptor (1906-1965)
  • noun United States suffragist who refused to pay taxes until she could vote (1792-1886)
  • noun Rhodesian statesman who declared independence of Zimbabwe from Great Britain (born in 1919)
  • noun United States blues singer (1894-1937)
  • noun someone who works metal (especially by hammering it when it is hot and malleable)
  • noun someone who works at something specified
  • noun religious leader who founded the Mormon Church in 1830 (1805-1844)
  • noun Scottish economist who advocated private enterprise and free trade (1723-1790)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English smith, from Old English smiþ ("handicraftsman, smith, blacksmith, armorer, carpenter, worker in metals or in wood"), from Proto-Germanic *smiþaz (“arranger, smith”), from Proto-Indo-European *smēy-, *smī- (“to cut, hew”). Cognate with Dutch smid, German Schmied, Swedish/Norwegian smed.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English smithen ("To work metal, forge, beat into, torment, refine (of God - to refine his chosen); create, to work as a blacksmith"), from Old English smiþian ("to forge, fabricate"). Compare Dutch smeden, German schmieden, from Proto-Germanic *smiþōnan.

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Examples

  • The worker in metals is usually called a smith, whether he be coppersmith or goldsmith.

    Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance Julia de Wolf Gibbs Addison

  • _study_ of his; for in Scotland they call a smith's anvil a study, so that he ranks with other artists in that respect.

    Alec Forbes of Howglen George MacDonald 1864

  • Like the murder of a sword smith by his own (fashioned) sword.

    The Throwing Star Weapon Dharmarakshita 2006

  • In the old days, I'd have been called a smith, but things like nails, bolts, all that, they come out of Faitel and arrive here in boxes and crates.

    Alector's Choice Modesitt, L. E. 2005

  • The residence of a smith was his first object of inquiry, in which he received little satisfaction from the dullness or sullenness of one or two peasants, early bound for their labour, who gave brief and indifferent answers to his questions on the subject.

    Kenilworth 2004

  • If today a master sword smith were smelting metal and the metal should jump up and say "I insist on being made into an Excalibur," the sword smith would surely think it metal with a curse on it.

    Zhuangzi Roth, Harold 2001

  • Not even a part of the smallest steel filing from a master sword smith's forge - ah, no! Money was merely the sere gateway to power, and power, well, all that was good for was manoeuvrability.

    The Ninja Lustbader, Eric 1980

  • It was well that others besides himself should speak for the people of the parish, and Bened the smith was a highly respected man, like all of his craft, and his words would carry weight.

    A Morbid Taste For Bones Peters, Ellis, 1913-1995 1977

  • Mason quashed the proposal, remarking truly enough that there was too much bad blood as it was between father and son; while Tammas proposed with a sneer that the smith should be his own agent in the matter.

    Bob, Son of Battle Alfred Ollivant 1900

  • The smith is a brawny native Maltese, with a form a Hercules might envy.

    Miss Caprice George Rathborne 1896

Comments

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  • Worker responsible for the forging and repair of domestic and military ironwork.

    August 26, 2008

  • The surname of two of the Doctor's companions on Doctor Who: Sarah Jane Smith and Mickey Smith.

    September 9, 2008