ironbound
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Adjective
[edit]ironbound (comparative more ironbound, superlative most ironbound)
- Bound with iron, ironclad.
- (figurative) Rugged.
- an ironbound coast
- 1820, [Charles Robert Maturin], Melmoth the Wanderer: A Tale. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co., […], →OCLC, page 150:
- He rose and went down to the kitchen, where he knew a fire was burning, and there the terrified servants were all assembled, all agreeing, as the blast came roaring down the chimney, they never had witnessed such a storm, and between the gusts, breathing shuddering prayers for those who were “out at sea that night.” The vicinity of Melmoth’s house to what seamen call an iron-bound coast, gave a dreadful sincerity to their prayers and their fears.
- (figurative) Rigid, unyielding.
- ironbound traditions
Translations
[edit]References
[edit]- “ironbound”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.