A rivet is a permanent metal fastener used to hold pieces of material together, especially metal sheets. Before rivets, builders struggled to make strong, lasting connections in structures like bridges and ships. A rivet looks like a short metal pin with a head on one end. Workers heat the rivet until it glows, push it through holes in the materials being joined, then hammer the other end flat to create a second head. As the rivet cools, it contracts and pulls the materials tightly together, creating an incredibly strong bond.

Rivets revolutionized construction in the 1800s and early 1900s. The Brooklyn Bridge contains thousands of rivets holding its steel together. The Titanic's hull was assembled with three million rivets. Teams of riveters worked high above city streets building skyscrapers, heating and hammering rivets while the metal was still red-hot. Though welding has largely replaced riveting in modern construction, you can still see rivets on older bridges, in some aircraft, and on your favorite pair of blue jeans, where small metal rivets reinforce the pockets.

As a verb, rivet can also mean to hold someone's complete attention. A riveting story or speech fastens your focus so firmly that you can't look away, just like a metal rivet permanently fastens steel beams together.