The little hammer like thing a judge weilds is called a gavel. But they always seem to have this really nice coaster like thing that they hit with the gavel. Does that thing have a special name and how did that name come to be?
Thanks
Apparently it’s called a “block”, or “sound block”.
http://shop.store.yahoo.com/ffaunlimited/gavandblocse.html
Search for “gavel” under the shopping category in yahoo, and you’ll see a bunch of gavel/block sets.
Arjuna34
One of my woodworking books has instructions for making a gavel. The block of wood you strike with the gavel is called the anvil, according to that book. My dictionaries fail to include that particular definition of “anvil,” but I found a few sites that use the term in this sense:
it’s called a sound block.
He called it “counsellor,” referring to whichever attorney annoyed him most that day.