IRON, n. i'urn, or i'rn. [L. ferrum, for herrum. The radical elements of this word are not easily ascertained.]

1. Made of iron; consisting of iron; as, an iron gate; an iron bar; iron dust.
2. Resembling iron in color; as, an iron gray color.
3. Harsh; rude; severe; miserable; as, the iron age of the world. Iron years of wars and dangers. Rowe. Jove crush'd the nations with an iron rod. Pope.
4. Binding fast; not to be broken; as, the iron sleep of death. Philips.
5. Hard of understanding; dull; as, an iron witted fool. Shak.
6. Firm; robust; as, an iron constitution.

1. A metal, the hardest, most common and most useful of all the metals; of a livid whitish color inclined to gray, internally composed, to appearance, of small facets, and susceptible of a fine polish. It is so hard and elastic as to be capable of destroying the aggregation of any other metal. Next to tin, it is the lightest of all metallic substances, and next to gold, the most tenacious. It may be hammered into plates, but not into leaves. Its ductility is more considerable. It has the property of magnetism; it is attracted by the lodestone, and will acquire its properties. It is found rarely in native masses; but in ores, mineralized by different substances, it abounds in every part of the earth. Its medicinal qualities are valuable. Fourcroy. Encyc.
2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; as, a flat-iron, a smoothing-iron. Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? Job xli.
3. Figuratively, strength; power; as, a rod of iron. Dan. ii.
4. Irons, plur. fetters; chains; manacles; handcuffs. Ps. cv.

1. To smooth with an instrument of iron.
2. To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
3. To furnish or arm with iron.

1. The most common and most useful metallic element, being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears dark brown, from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or on a fresh surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily oxidized (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic weight 55.9. Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is superior to all other substances.
   
   

   * The value of iron is largely due to the facility with which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and generating furnace).

2. Of, or made of iron; consisting of iron; as, an iron bar, dust.
3. To smooth with an instrument of iron] especially, to smooth, as cloth, with a heated flatiron; -- sometimes used with out.
4. An iron-headed club with a deep face, chiefly used in making approaches, lifting a ball over hazards, etc.
5. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.
   
   

   My young soldier, put up your iron. Shak.

6. Resembling iron in color; as, iron blackness.
7. To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff.
   
   
   "Ironed like a malefactor." Sir W. Scott.
8. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.
   
   

   Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons. Macaulay.

9. Like iron in hardness, strength, impenetrability, power of endurance, insensibility, etc.;
   
   
   as:

   (a)

10. To furnish or arm with iron; as, to iron a wagon.
11. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with a rod of iron.
    
    

    Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below). -- Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog. -- Cast iron (Metal.), an impure variety of iron, containing from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary. -- Fire irons. See under Fire, n. -- Gray irons. See under Fire, n. -- Gray iron. See Cast iron (above). -- It irons (Naut.), said of a sailing vessel, when, in tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill away on either tack. -- Magnetic iron. See Magnetite. -- Malleable iron (Metal.), iron sufficiently pure or soft to be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less brittle, and to some extent malleable. -- Meteoric iron (Chem.), iron forming a large, and often the chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a small amount of nickel and cobalt. Cf. Meteorite. -- Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast furnace, being run into molds, called pigs. -- Reduced iron. See under Reduced. -- Specular iron. See Hematite. -- Too many irons in the fire, too many objects requiring the attention at once. -- White iron. See Cast iron (above). -- Wrought iron (Metal.), the purest form of iron commonly known in the arts, containing only about half of one per cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore, as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed into bars, it is called bar iron.