Meanings
smithy1
plural smithies
- The location where a smith (particularly a blacksmith) works; a forge.
Traditionally a village smithy was a busy place because the smith's work was so necessary.
2 more examples
The workshop with its smithy is still intact, also the loading stage where the narrow-gauge wagons tipped their contents into those of the G.W.R.
1941 June, “Notes and News: The Derelict Glyn Valley Tramway”, in Railway Magazine, page 278Close to the hump-backed bridge on the lane leading into the Hambleden Valley is a mid-19th-century smithy, its inside walls hung with tools of the blacksmith's trade, though decorative wrought-ironwork is now the main product from its glowing forge.
1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214, about Hambleden
present singular third person smithies · participle present smithying · participle past smithied · past smithied
- uncommonTo forge (metal), especially by traditional blacksmith methods.
"That's funny looking mail, Sire," said Eustace. "Aye, lad," said Tirian. "No Narnian dwarf smithied that. […]
1956, C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle1 more example
So the old smith went out to his smithy and weighed out iron enough to make a stout staff a stone weight, and he smithied it well while his son looked on. […] So they weighed six stone of iron and smithied a great bent club like a shinny, and when that was made and cooled the smith's son said, "that will do."
1995, John Francis Campbell, The Celtic Dragon Myth, page 59
Smithy2
- A nickname of the surname Smith.
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
smithy · noun, verb
- Proto-Germanic*smiþjǭ
- Old Norsesmiðja
- Middle Englishsmythy
- Englishsmithy
From Middle English smythy, from Old Norse smiðja, from Proto-Germanic *smiþjǭ. Cognate with Old English smiþþe (whence the obsolete modern doublet smithe, smythe (“the workshop of a smith, forge”)). See the Proto-Germanic entry for further cognates. Partially displaced by English forge.
More words from Middle English, Old Norse, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish takoa
- takoato forge by hand
German mit der Hand schmieden
- mit der Hand schmiedento forge by hand
Polish kuźnia, kuć
- kuźniaforge
- kućto forge by hand
- wykuwaćto forge by hand
- wykućto forge by hand
Russian кова́ть, вы́ковать
- кова́ть (kovátʹ)to forge by hand
- вы́ковать (výkovatʹ)to forge by hand
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with smithy
All rhymes →Cite this entry
smithy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smithy
“smithy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smithy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “smithy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/smithy.
Source: smithy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.