swage

plural swages

1. A tool, used by blacksmiths and other metalworkers, for shaping of a metal item.

   "I made a swage and hammered out the test bars to the required .615 inch plus or minus .003, the thickness of a sheet of paper. […]

   2003, Gene Logsdon, The Pond Lovers, University of Georgia Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 45

   2 more examples

   If he were making round or square-sectioned nails, the blacksmith also kept a "swage" near the anvil. If different sizes, shapes, and heads were required, the nailor had a number of swages or a number of holes in the one swage.

   2005, Mike McCarthy, Ships' Fastenings: From Sewn Boat to Steamship, Texas A&M University Press, published 2005, →ISBN, page 87

   […] The blacksmith let me help out, hold the horse while he was putting the shoe on, turn the hand forge, clean up the shop. And after awhile he taught me names of everything. He'd say, 'Boy, hand me the three-inch swage,' and I had to know just what he wanted. I learned that way."

   2008, Wilbur Cross, Gullah Culture in America, Praeger, published 2008, →ISBN, page 73

present singular third person swages · participle present swaging · participle past swaged · past swaged

1. transitiveTo bend or shape through use of a swage.

present singular third person swages · participle present swaging · participle past swaged · past swaged · alternative suage

1. obsoleteObsolete form of assuage.

   apt words have power to swage

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC