- very strong and determined
- She was known as the ‘Iron Lady’.
- a man of iron will
Word OriginOld English īren, īsen, īsern, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ijzer and German Eisen, and probably ultimately from Celtic.
Idioms
See iron in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryan iron fist/hand (in a velvet glove)
- if you use the words an iron fist/hand when describing the way that somebody behaves, you mean that they treat people severely. This treatment may be hidden behind a kind appearance (the velvet glove).
- They promised that the army would strike with an iron fist at any resistance.
- The iron hand in the velvet glove approach seems to work best with this age group.
Check pronunciation:
iron