iron

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See also: irón

English

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Etymology

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A pot of molten raw iron.
The position of the element iron in the periodic table, and its structure.
An electric clothes iron.
Chemical element
Fe
Previous: manganese (Mn)
Next: cobalt (Co)

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”), a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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iron (countable and uncountable, plural irons)

  2. (uncountable) 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.
    Synonym: ferrum
  3. (uncountable, countable, metallurgy) Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.
    wrought iron, ductile iron, cast iron, pig iron, gray iron
  5. (countable) 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.
    Synonyms: clothes iron, flatiron, smoothing iron
    Hyponyms: box iron, charcoal iron, steam iron
    Coordinate terms: clothes press, mangle
  6. (usually in the plural, irons) Shackles.
    Hyponym: leg irons
  7. (slang) A firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.
    Synonym: shooting iron
  8. (uncountable) A dark shade of the color silver.
  9. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, offensive, shortened from iron hoof, rhyming with poof) A male homosexual.
    Synonyms: poof, queer; see also Thesaurus:male homosexual
  10. (golf) A golf club used for middle-distance shots.
    Hyponyms: driving iron, long iron, short iron, 1-iron, 2-iron, 3-iron, 4-iron, 5-iron, 6-iron, 7-iron, 8-iron, 9-iron
    • 1902, Robert Marshall Grade, The Haunted Major:
      The brassey much resembled the driver, but the iron opened out quite a new field of practice; […]
  12. (uncountable, figurative) Used as a symbol of great strength or toughness, or to signify a very strong or tough material.
    ironman; a will of iron
    He appeared easygoing, but inside he was pure iron.
  13. (weightlifting) Weight used as resistance for the purpose of strength training.
    He lifts iron on the weekends.
  14. (countable, astronomy, geology) A meteorite consisting primarily of metallic iron (mixed with a small amount of nickel), as opposed to one composed mainly of stony material.
    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.
  15. A safety curtain in a theatre.
  16. (military, slang) Dumb bombs, those without guidance systems.

Derived terms

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Translations

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See iron/translations § Noun.

Adjective

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iron (not comparable)

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
  1. (not comparable) Made of the metal iron.
  2. (figuratively) Strong (as of will), inflexible.
    Synonyms: adamant, adamantine, brassbound
    She had an iron will.
    He held on with an iron grip.
    an iron constitution
    Iron men
    • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 201:
      […] the fruit-garden, where every tree and walk had a remembrance—those iron links of affection.
    • 1905, Lord Dunsany [i.e., Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany], The Gods of Pegāna, London: [Charles] Elkin Mathews, […], →OCLC, page 64:
      The faces of the gods are iron and their mouths set hard. There is no hope from the gods.
    • 1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy:
      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.
    • 2022 October 5, Rowena Mason, quoting Liz Truss, “Liz Truss promises ‘growth, growth and growth’ in protest-hit speech”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      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.

Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Verb

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iron (third-person singular simple present irons, present participle ironing, simple past and past participle ironed)

  1. (transitive) To pass an iron over (clothing or some other item made of cloth) in order to remove creases.
    You'd be wise to iron that shirt before you wear it.
    • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 30:
      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.
  2. (intransitive) To engage in such pressing of clothing.
    They were washing and ironing all morning.
  3. (transitive, archaic) To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
    • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley:
      [...] 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?
  4. (transitive) To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.
    to iron a wagon

Synonyms

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  • (to pass an iron over): press

Coordinate terms

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  • (to pass an iron over): mangle

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → Japanese: アイロン (airon)

Translations

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See also

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See also

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Esperanto

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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iron

  1. accusative singular of iro

Japanese

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Romanization

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iron

  1. Rōmaji transcription of いろん
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