iron
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: astronomy
engineering
geography
geology
golf
government
hobbies
lifestyle
metallurgy
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
sports
war
weightlifting
Etymology: From Middle English iren, from Old English īsern, īsærn, īren, īsen, from Proto-West Germanic *īsarn, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną (“iron”), from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom (“iron”), possibly a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots airn, ern (“iron”), Yola eeren (“iron”), Saterland Frisian Iersen (“iron”), West Frisian izer (“iron”), Bavarian Eisn (“iron”), Cimbrian aizarn (“iron”), Dutch ijzer (“iron”), German, Luxembourgish Eisen (“iron”), German Low German Isen (“iron”), Alemannic German Ise (“iron”), Limburgish iezer (“iron”), Mòcheno aisn (“iron”), Vilamovian ȧjza (“iron”), West Flemish yzer (“iron”), Yiddish אײַזן (ayzn, “iron”), Danish jern, jærn (“iron”), Faroese jarn (“iron”), Icelandic járn (“iron”), Jamtish járn, jáðn (“iron”), Norwegian Bokmål jern (“iron”), Norwegian Nynorsk jarn, jern, jønn (“iron”), Swedish jern, jaͤrn, järn (“iron”), Gothic 𐌴𐌹𐍃𐌰𐍂𐌽 (eisarn, “iron”).
Inflected forms:
form: irons
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: irons
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: ironing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: ironed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: ironed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A common, inexpensive metal, silvery grey when untarnished, that rusts, is attracted by magnets, and is used in making steel: a chemical element having atomic number 26 and symbol Fe.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Today we studied about metals — including iron — at school.
They gather one by one, trickling into the shady courtyard, the familiar hum of Mass. Ave. wafting in from behind brick buildings and iron gates.
gloss: Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A tool or appliance made of metal, which is heated and then used to transfer heat to something else; most often a thick piece of metal fitted with a handle and having a flat, roughly triangular bottom, which is heated and used to press wrinkles from clothing, and now usually containing an electrical heating apparatus.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: Any of several other tools traditionally made of wrought iron, now usually of steel.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: Shackles.
pos: noun
tags: countable
plural-normally
uncountable
gloss: A firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
examples: It's many niggas now totin' iron.
Ah, throw that old iron over here! We'll pick it up and go on our way.
the stranger there among them had a big iron on his hip
gloss: A dark shade of the color silver.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: A male homosexual.
pos: noun
tags: Cockney
countable
offensive
slang
gloss: A golf club used for middle-distance shots.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The brassey much resembled the driver, but the iron opened out quite a new field of practice; […]
gloss: Used as a symbol of great strength or toughness, or to signify a very strong or tough material.
pos: noun
tags: figuratively
uncountable
examples: ironman; a will of iron
He appeared easygoing, but inside he was pure iron.
gloss: Weight used as resistance for the purpose of strength training.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He lifts iron on the weekends.
I wanted Beauty, and what Nature had failed to supply, Iron would.
gloss: A meteorite consisting primarily of metallic iron (mixed with a small amount of nickel), as opposed to one composed mainly of stony material.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Irons and stony irons can be much larger than stony meteorites and are much more visually striking, but make up only a few percent of all meteorites.
gloss: A safety curtain in a theatre.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: A dumb bomb, one without guidance systems.
pos: noun
tags: countable
slang
uncountable
gloss: Made of the metal iron.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
gloss: Strong (as of will), inflexible.
pos: adj
tags: figuratively
not-comparable
examples: She had an iron will.
He held on with an iron grip.
an iron constitution
Iron men
[…]the fruit-garden, where every tree and walk had a remembrance—those iron links of affection.
The faces of the gods are iron and their mouths set hard. There is no hope from the gods.
And it is symptomatic of the many paradoxes of Lederer's life that of all the people in the room, Brotherhood is the one whom he would most wish to serve, if ever he had the opportunity, even though — or perhaps because — his occasional efforts to ingratiate himself with his adopted hero have met with iron rebuff.
But in her speech, Truss said she would exert an “iron discipline” over public spending, hinting at possible austerity to come. “I believe in sound money and a lean state,” she said.
gloss: To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: You'd be wise to iron that shirt before you wear it.
Out of that tub had come the day before - Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse - the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass - which had been wrung up and ironed by her mother's own hands.
gloss: To engage in such pressing of clothing.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: They were washing and ironing all morning.
gloss: To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: [...] is it he who is ironed like a malefactor—who is to be dragged on a hurdle to the common gallows—to die a lingering and cruel death, and to be mangled by the hand of the most outcast of wretches?
gloss: To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to iron a wagon
Related words: andiron
gridiron
ferrous
ferric
Derived words: balling-iron
beak-iron
beck-iron
bick-iron
bog iron ore
boom-iron
brand-iron
cast-iron
cast-iron stomach
chromate of iron
chrome iron ore
clothing-iron
copper-iron
cramp-iron
faggot iron
fagot iron
flat iron steak
gal-iron
gamma-iron
green iron ore
grey iron
hack-iron
hard as iron
have too many irons in the fire
hot iron test
in iron
in irons
ironable
Iron Acton
iron age
Iron Age
iron alum
iron bacterium
iron band
ironbark
iron-bind
iron-binding
iron bird
iron bloom
iron-blue
iron blue
iron-blue fly
iron bomb
Ironbottom Sound
ironbound
iron brew
Ironbridge
iron bridge
iron buff
iron butterfly
iron cage
ironcaps spider orchid
iron carbide
iron-cased
iron cement
iron chloride
ironclad
iron-clad
iron clay
iron cloth
iron condor
Iron County
iron cross
iron curtain
iron deficiency
iron-deficient
Iron Dome
iron eagle
ironed
ironedetate
iron fall
ironfield
iron filings
iron fist
iron flint
ironfounder
iron-founder
ironfounding
iron foundry
iron-free
iron-gall ink
iron game
iron gang
Iron Gates
iron glance
iron grass
iron gray
iron-gray
iron grey
iron-grey
iron group
ironhanded
iron-handed
iron handed
iron-handedly
iron handedly
iron handedness
iron-handedness
iron-hard
iron harvest
iron hat
iron-headed
ironheads
ironheart
iron-hearted
iron-heartedness
iron heater
iron heel
iron hoof
iron house
iron hydroxide
iron(III) chloride
iron(III) oxide
iron iodide
ironish
iron lady
ironless
ironlike
iron liquor
iron loss
iron maid
iron maiden
ironmaker
iron-maker
iron-making
ironmaking
iron-manganese tungstate
iron man
ironman
iron mask
ironmaster
iron meteorite
Iron Mike
ironmine
iron mine
iron-miner
iron mining
iron mold
ironmonger
ironmongery
iron monticellite
iron-montmorillonite
iron mould
iron mountain
Iron Mountain
ironness
iron ore
iron oxide
iron pan
iron period
ironperson
iron phosphate
iron-plated
iron play
iron player
Iron Pot Creek
iron protoxide
iron pyrite
iron pyrites
Iron Range
iron ration
iron rice bowl
iron ring
iron road
iron saffron
iron salt
iron sand
ironsand
iron saw
iron scale
ironshod
iron-shod
ironshot, iron-shot
iron shrub
iron-sick
Ironside
ironside
iron-sided
Ironsides
iron smelting
ironsmith
iron sponge
Iron Springs
iron stain
iron stand
ironstone
iron strap
iron sulfate
iron sulfide
iron-sulfur cluster
iron-sulfur protein
iron sulphate
iron sulphide
iron-sulphur cluster
iron-sulphur protein
Ironton
iron-tree
iron triad
iron triangle
iron tribromide
iron trichloride
iron tungstate
Ironville
iron virgin
iron vitriol
ironware
ironweed
ironwoman
ironwood
ironwork
ironworker
ironworking
ironwort
irony
iron yellow
lamp-iron
leg irons
making-iron
mid-iron
mulling iron
nickel-iron
proto-iron
put every iron in the fire
red iron oxide
rule with a rod of iron
sad-iron
searing-iron
shank-iron
shooting-iron
stony-iron
stretching-iron
strike the iron while it's hot
strike while the iron is hot
sulfate of iron
sulphate of iron
toasting-iron
toggle-iron
too many irons in the fire
tow-iron
tue-iron
waxing iron
wouldn't work in an iron lung
yttrium iron garnet
Iron Curtain
iron horse
iron cap
iron chink
Iron Cross
Iron Duke
iron-faced
iron-fisted
Iron Guard
iron gum
iron gum tree
iron hand
iron jubilee
Iron Lady
iron law
iron lung
ironly
iron mike
iron oak
iron paper
iron sleep
iron slumber
iron walls
iron wedding
iron-willed
iron-witted
iron-worded
ironer
ironing
iron-on
iron out
non-iron
unironed
Translations: