Home › Glossary › Letter C

chisel

Tools
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A chisel is a sharp-edged metal tool struck or pushed to cut, carve, or shape wood, stone, or metal.

Detailed Definition
A chisel concentrates force along a narrow cutting edge, enabling a craftsperson to remove material with precision. Different forms belong to carpentry, masonry, sculpture, and metalwork. In poetry it frequently represents the disciplined act of giving form to resistance: the sculptor releases a figure from stone, the mason shapes a building block, or time chisels lines into a face. Its mixture of violence and artistry makes it a powerful emblem of creation, revision, suffering, and the gradual revelation of hidden form.
Example
Example in poetry:
The sculptor set the chisel against the marble and released a human face; A chisel often symbolises creation achieved by removing what is unnecessary; Time worked like a chisel upon the weathered doorway; In a craft poem, the chisel's repeated blows can echo discipline, suffering, and revelation.
Additional Notes
A chisel works by concentrating pressure along a narrow cutting edge and may be pushed by hand or struck with a mallet or hammer. It appears in poetry concerning carpentry, masonry, sculpture, monuments, and artistic creation. Because a chisel produces form by removing material, it often symbolises refinement, revelation, discipline, or loss. Time and suffering are frequently imagined as chisels shaping faces or character. Related terms include mallet, hammer, burin, cold chisel, carving, sculpture, stone, wood, incision, craftsmanship, reduction, and hidden form.
Other Meanings of “chisel”
Also Known As
Carving Chisel Sculpting Tool Wood Chisel
Skip to main content