From Middle English iren, from Old English īsern, īsærn, īren, īsen, from Proto-West Germanic *īsarn, from Proto-Germanic *īsarną, from Proto-Celtic *īsarnom, a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ésh₂r̥.

• (RP) IPA: /ˈaɪən/
• (America) enPR: ī'ərn, IPA: /ˈaɪ(ə)ɹn/
• (dialectal, Canada, Scotland, Ireland) IPA: /ˈaɪɹən/

iron

1. (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.

   Synonyms: ferrum

2. (uncountable, countable, metallurgy) Any material, not a steel, predominantly made of elemental iron.

   wrought iron, ductile iron, cast iron, pig iron, gray iron

3. (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

4. (usually, in the plural, irons) Shackles.

   Hyponym: leg irons

5. (slang) A firearm, either a long gun or a handgun.

   Synonyms: shooting iron

6. (uncountable) A dark shade of the color silver.
7. (countable, Cockney rhyming slang, offensive, shortened from iron hoof, rhyming with poof) A male homosexual.

   Synonyms: poof, queer, Thesaurus:male homosexual

8. (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; […]

9. (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.

10. (weightlifting) Weight used as resistance for the purpose of strength training.

    He lifts iron on the weekends.

11. (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.

12. A safety curtain in a theatre.
13. (military, slang) Dumb bombs, those without guidance systems.

see iron/translations

iron (not comparable)

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.

• French: de fer
• German: eisern
• Italian: ferreo, ferroso, ferrico
• Portuguese: de ferro, férreo
• Russian: желе́зный
• Spanish: férreo

• German: eisern
• Italian: inflessibile, ferro
• Portuguese: ferrenho
• Russian: желе́зный
• Spanish: férreo

iron (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.

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.
4. (transitive) To furnish, clad, or arm with iron.

   to iron a wagon

• (to pass an iron over) press

• French: repasser
• German: bügeln
• Italian: stirare
• Portuguese: passar, passar a ferro, engomar
• Russian: гла́дить
• Spanish: planchar

• German: in Eisen legen
• Russian: зако́вывать

• Russian: покрыва́ть

Translation of the Arabic حديد (ḥadīd, “iron”).

1. The 57th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

From Ossetic Ирон, a derivation (with the adjective suffix Ossetic -он from the historical genitive plural iir-pro *-ānaHam) of Ossetic Ир.

1. A group of Ossetians of the northern Caucasus who speak the Iron Ossetian dialect.

iron (not comparable)

1. Of or pertaining to the Iron people.