Note: 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. 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.
3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.
Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.
--Macaulay.
4. 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.
2. Resembling iron in color; as, iron blackness.
3. Like iron in hardness, strength, impenetrability, power of
endurance, insensibility, etc.; as:
(a) Rude; hard; harsh; severe.
Iron years of wars and dangers. --Rowe.
Jove crushed the nations with an iron rod.
--Pope.
(b) Firm; robust; enduring; as, an iron constitution.
(c) Inflexible; unrelenting; as, an iron will.
(d) Not to be broken; holding or binding fast; tenacious.
``Him death's iron sleep oppressed.'' --Philips.
Note: Iron is often used in composition, denoting made of
iron, relating to iron, of or with iron; producing
iron, etc.; resembling iron, literally or figuratively,
in some of its properties or characteristics; as,
iron-shod, iron-sheathed, iron-fisted, iron-framed,
iron-handed, iron-hearted, iron foundry or
iron-foundry.
{Iron age}.
(a) (Myth.) The age following the golden, silver, and
bronze ages, and characterized by a general
degeneration of talent and virtue, and of literary
excellence. In Roman literature the Iron Age is
commonly regarded as beginning after the taking of
Rome by the Goths, A. D. 410.
(b) (Arch[ae]ol.) That stage in the development of any
people characterized by the use of iron implements in
the place of the more cumbrous stone and bronze.
{Iron cement}, a cement for joints, composed of cast-iron
borings or filings, sal ammoniac, etc.
{Iron clay} (Min.), a yellowish clay containing a large
proportion of an ore of iron.
{Iron cross}, a Prussian order of military merit; also, the
decoration of the order.
{Iron crown}, a golden crown set with jewels, belonging
originally to the Lombard kings, and indicating the
dominion of Italy. It was so called from containing a
circle said to have been forged from one of the nails in
the cross of Christ.
{Iron flint} (Min.), an opaque, flintlike, ferruginous
variety of quartz.
{Iron founder}, a maker of iron castings.
{Iron foundry}, the place where iron castings are made.
{Iron furnace}, a furnace for reducing iron from the ore, or
for melting iron for castings, etc.; a forge; a
reverberatory; a bloomery.
{Iron glance} (Min.), hematite.
{Iron hat}, a headpiece of iron or steel, shaped like a hat
with a broad brim, and used as armor during the Middle
Ages.
{Iron horse}, a locomotive engine. [Colloq.]
{Iron liquor}, a solution of an iron salt, used as a mordant
by dyers.
{Iron man} (Cotton Manuf.), a name for the self-acting
spinning mule.
{Iron} {mold or mould}, a yellow spot on cloth stained by
rusty iron.
{Iron ore} (Min.), any native compound of iron from which the
metal may be profitably extracted. The principal ores are
magnetite, hematite, siderite, limonite, G["o]thite,
turgite, and the bog and clay iron ores.
{Iron pyrites} (Min.), common pyrites, or pyrite. See
{Pyrites}.
{Iron sand}, an iron ore in grains, usually the magnetic iron
ore, formerly used to sand paper after writing.
{Iron scale}, the thin film which on the surface of wrought
iron in the process of forging. It consists essentially of
the magnetic oxide of iron, {Fe3O4>}.
{Iron works}, a furnace where iron is smelted, or a forge,
rolling mill, or foundry, where it is made into heavy
work, such as shafting, rails, cannon, merchant bar, etc.
2. To shackle with irons; to fetter or handcuff. ``Ironed
like a malefactor.'' --Sir W. Scott.
3. To furnish or arm with iron; as, to iron a wagon.