Iron, when used

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...

ically, refers to certain traits of the

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

. Used as an

adjective An adjective (abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that describes or defines a noun or noun phrase. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives are considered one of the main part of speech, parts of ...

and sometimes as a

noun In grammar, a noun is a word that represents a concrete or abstract thing, like living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, and ideas. A noun may serve as an Object (grammar), object or Subject (grammar), subject within a p ...

, it refers to something stern, harsh, strong, unyielding, inflexible, rigid, sturdy, strong, robust, hard.''

Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' is a large American dictionary, first published in 1966 as ''The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: The Unabridged Edition''. Edited by Editor-in-chief Jess Stein, it contained 315,0 ...

List of iron metaphors

Persons and characters

* Iron Duke (disambiguation) * Iron Felix (disambiguation) * Iron Lady (disambiguation) *

Iron Man (disambiguation) Iron Man, Ironman or Ironmen may refer to: People * Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery (1939–1985), American caddie for Arnold Palmer * Travis Fulton (1977–2021), American mixed martial arts fighter * Gunnar Graps (1951–2004), Estonian musician * ...

* Iron Mike (disambiguation) *

Princess Iron Fan (disambiguation) Princess Iron Fan is a fictional character from the Chinese classic novel ''Journey to the West''. Princess Iron Fan may also refer to: * ''Princess Iron Fan'' (1941 film), an animated film * ''Princess Iron Fan'' (1966 film), a live action f ...

* Otto von Bismarck, known as the Iron Chancellor * ''

Iron Chef is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...

'', a Japanese cooking show * , known as Iron Eye * Iron Eyes Cody, Sicilian-American actor * The Iron Heinrich, a rough translation of the German fairy tale

The Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimms' Fairy Tales, ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). Traditionally, it is the fir ...

* Iron Heroes, a variant book of rules for the game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' * Iron John, a German fairy tale * Eon Kid, English title of the TV series '' Iron Kid'' * Iron Lad, a fictional superhero * Iron Maniac, an evil alternative universe character of fictional Marvel superhero

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...

* Iron Munro, a fictional superhero * Persephone, known as the Iron Queen * Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, known as the Iron Sheik * Iron Shell, Brule Sioux chief * Iron Tail, Oglala Sioux warrior * Tigran Petrosian, known as Iron Tigran *

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

as a name, meaning ''

'' in

Turkic languages The Turkic languages are a language family of more than 35 documented languages, spoken by the Turkic peoples of Eurasia from Eastern Europe and Southern Europe to Central Asia, East Asia, North Asia (Siberia), and West Asia. The Turkic langua ...

, widespread in

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

since the days of the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

* Hadid is an Arabic name (both given and surname) literally meaning "iron"

Animals and plants

* Iron Bird (disambiguation) * Iron Butterfly (disambiguation) * Iron Dragon (disambiguation) * Iron Eagle (disambiguation) * Iron Monkey (disambiguation) * Iron Wolf (disambiguation) * Iron horse (disambiguation) * Iron wood (disambiguation) * ''Ferrocalamus'' ( iron bamboo) * Iron cobra, a "construct" in the game ''Dungeons & Dragons'' *

Iron condor The iron condor is an options trading strategy utilizing two vertical spreads – a put spread and a call spread with the same expiration and four different strikes. A long iron condor is essentially selling both sides of the underlying instr ...

, an option trading strategy utilizing two vertical spreads * Iron Kong, a fictional character from the science fiction media franchise

Zoids is a Japanese science fiction media franchise created by Tomy that feature giant robots (or "mecha") called Zoids, with designs being based on animals; including dinosaurs, mammals, insects, arachnids and mythological creatures. The franchise ...

Body parts

* Iron Fist (disambiguation) * Iron Hand (disambiguation) * Iron Hands (disambiguation) * Iron lung (disambiguation) * See Joseph LaFlesche * ''

The Iron Heel ''The Iron Heel'' is a dystopian and political novel in the form of science fiction by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Plot The main premise of the book is the rise of a socialist mass movement in the United Statesstrong ...

'', a 1908 dystopian novel * Iron Palm, a body of training techniques in various Chinese martial arts

Geography

* Iron City (disambiguation) * Iron Mountain (disambiguation) * Iron River (disambiguation) * Iron Range, regions around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada

Other iron metaphors

* Iron Bird (disambiguation) * Iron Curtain (disambiguation) * Iron Maiden (disambiguation) * Iron Triangle (disambiguation) * Unguided bomb, known as an iron bomb * Iron Brigade, a Civil War brigade *

Iron cage In sociology, the iron cage is a concept introduced by Max Weber to describe the increased rationalization inherent in social life, particularly in Western capitalist societies. The "iron cage" thus traps individuals in systems based purely on tel ...

, a sociology term * Iron Fire, a Danish power and speed metal band *

Iron Guard The Iron Guard () was a Romanian militant revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary Clerical fascism, religious fascist Political movement, movement and political party founded in 1927 by Corneliu Zelea Codreanu as the Legion of the Archangel M ...

, a historical far-right movement in Romania * Iron harvest, an annual "harvest" collected by Belgian and French farmers after ploughing their fields * ''

Iron Helix ''Iron Helix'' is a Full motion video, FMV adventure game, adventure video game made for Microsoft Windows, Windows, Macintosh, and the Sega CD. It was an early example of a CD-based game, including video elements integrated with conventional 2D ...

'', a 1993 video game * '' Iron Seed'', a 1994 DOS video game * Iron shirt, a form of hard style martial art exercise * '' Iron Sunrise'', a 2004 hard science fiction novel * ''

Iron Will ''Iron Will'' is a 1994 American adventure film. It is based on the true story of the 1917 dog-sled race from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul, Minnesota, a -long stretch and part of the "Red River-St. Paul Sports Carniv ...

'', a 1994 film

Gallery

Image:Sir Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.png, The Iron Duke Image:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1990-023-06A, Otto von Bismarck.jpg, The Iron Chancellor Image:Margaret Thatcher stock portrait (cropped).jpg,

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

, the ''Iron Lady'' Image:2.5l tech 4 engine.jpg , An Iron Duke engine Image:Poumon_artificiel.jpg , An

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator, a medical ventilator, mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when Musc ...

Image:Z800 2066 JKU.jpeg , Big iron, an

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

z800 2066 mainframe Image:Python-nickel.jpg , "Big Iron" or

Colt Python The Colt Python is a double action/single action revolver chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge. It was first introduced in 1955 by the Colt's Manufacturing Company. Dougherty, Martin ''Small Arms: From the Civil War to the Present Day'', Ne ...

Image:Map_of_Minnesota_highlighting_Iron_Range.png , Iron Range in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

Image:Point Alpha Ostseite.jpg , The

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

in modern-day

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...