iron man

See also: ironman

English

Noun

iron man (plural iron men or iron mans)

1. (sports) Alternative form of ironman
2. A self-acting spinning mule used in cotton manufacture.
3. (figurative) Someone who is performs a very complex, complicated, or strenuous task without assistance.

   You don't have to be an iron man and do all the work yourself: there are people here who can help you.

4. (dated, US, slang, usually in the plural) A dollar.
   • 1993, Stephen King, Nightmares & Dreamscapes:

     This time it was thirty-five grand, a whole damn marching battalion of iron men, […]

   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎^[1]:

     Somebody had sense enough to tell Elmer to hold out until the bids were all in, which accounts for his getting four thousand big iron men for his first season's work, instead of fifteen hundred, like the rest of the bush heavers.