ironcladadj.n.
/ˈʌɪənklad/, U.S. /ˈaɪ(ə)rnˌklæd/ A. adj.
I. Encased in or protected with iron.
1. Clad in iron; protected or covered with iron.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > metal > iron > [adjective] > furnished or covered with iron
ironedOE
ironclada1752
a1752 R. Erskine Job's Hymns (1753) 149 In sleep no giant iron-clad Dare his disturber be.
1800 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 23/2 All manner of sounding steps, from the shuffle of pumps to the force of iron-clad shoes, were labouring over our heads.
1852 G. C. Mundy Our Antipodes II. vi. 137 The burly baron of feudal times..those iron-clad, iron-fisted, and iron-headed nobles despised all manner of clerk-craft.
1877 R. W. Raymond Statistics Mines & Mining 17 The foundation for a new ironclad furnace.
1910 Railway Master Mechanic Feb. 72/2 A large steel-frame, iron-clad, slate-roof building.
1959 I. Jefferies Thirteen Days ii. 26 The Yehudi convoys used to form up..with iron-clad buses and sand-bagged lorries.
1985 Catal. Sale Horse-drawn Vehicles (Thimbleby & Shorland) 6 Mar. 31 Market Cart on large iron-clad wheels to suit a large horse.
1991 Q. Rev. Wines Spring 43/1 People playing boules, the game played on flat ground with iron clad balls.
2. Of a warship: covered wholly or partly with thick plates of iron or steel as a defence against shot, shells, etc.; armour-plated. Cf. armour-clad adj. 1 Now historical.The first ironclad ship, La Gloire, was built in 1859 by the French navy; such ships were subsequently used by both sides in the American Civil War (1861–5), most prominently in the encounter (1862) of USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (Merrimack). When the question of protecting warships with iron or steel armour first arose a number of terms were introduced, of which ironclad established itself as the preferred term by the mid 1860s: examples include iron-cased adj. 2, iron-clothed adj. 2, iron-plated adj. 2, iron-sided adj. 2b. The term ceased to be applied to newly built ships by the end of the 19th cent.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities at sea > naval weapons and equipment > [adjective] > of vessel: clad in iron
ironclad1855
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [adjective] > armour-plated
armour-clad1768
mail-clad1777
iron-cased1855
ironclad1855
iron-plated1855
iron-sided1855
armoured1859
iron-clothed1859
mailed1860
armour-plated1862
cuirassed1864
belted1865
Harveyed1894
up-armoured1978
1855 Illustr. London News 26 Apr. 450/3 It is only by iron-clad ships that such intruders can be met, and the sooner we set about providing them the better.
1859 Engineer 8 157/3 The present experiments..would appear to prove that an iron or steel-clad ship, on receiving a concentrated broadside from a frigate..must sink then and there.
1861 Engineer 11 152/1 Iron-clad Ships..Of this supposed [French] fleet of fifteen iron-plated vessels only one was now ready, La Gloire.
1862 Fayetteville (N. Carolina) Observer 10 Mar. The Lincoln gun-boats in the Savannah are not iron-clad, like those on the Western waters.
1866 Stat. Abstr. Health Navy 12 It is particularly satisfactory to find that..the iron-clad vessels are likely to prove at least as healthy as those not iron-clad.
1878 N. Amer. Rev. Sept. 225 Two powerful iron-clad rams.
1910 School Sci. & Math. 10 501 They are glad to know why a barge loaded with coal, or an ironclad vessel does not sink.
1961 Jet 9 Mar. 9 It was the first battle between iron-clad vessels in naval history.
2011 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 14 July 33/3 Two powerful ironclad ships being built at the Laird works in Birkenhead neared completion.
3. Of an electrical device: encased or sheathed in iron.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > physics > electromagnetic radiation > electricity > electrical engineering > prevention of interference > [adjective] > cased in iron
ironclad1902
1865 C. W. Siemens in Civil Engineer & Architects's Jrnl. 28 303/1 The laying of a heavy iron-clad cable into deep seas would be attended with great risk.
1876 Catal. Special Loan Coll. Sci. Apparatus S. Kensington Mus. (ed. 2) 291 Ironclad Marine Galvanometer, used on board the ‘Great Eastern’ in the Atlantic Cable Expedition of 1866.
1902 Encycl. Brit. XXVII. 584/2 The two-poled ironclad type [of field-magnet], so called from the exciting coil being more or less encased by the iron yoke.
1927 W. Wilson Electr. Control Gear xvi. 226 There are..reasonably cheap ironclad types of starting equipment on the market.
2004 J. Svoboda Magn. Techniques Treatm. Materials ii. 116 The magnetic field is generated by an iron-clad water-cooled solenoid.
II. figurative.
4.
a. Of the soil or ground: hard, unyielding; esp. hardened with frost or ice. Also: characterized by such conditions. Cf. iron-bound adj. 4 Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > coldness > [adjective] > made cold or cool > frozen > frozen hard
solid1786
ironclad1834
iron-bound1835
1834 J. Carne Lett. Switzerland & Italy i. 1 During several months, the world is almost shut out from the little iron-clad territory.
1889 R. Jefferies Field & Hedgerow 103 Warm summer and iron-clad winter.
1966 A. Wykes Eye on Thames v. 100 One cannot but admire the stoicism of men who achieved the task of quarrying first the snow and ice and then the stone from the ironclad country.
b. North American. Of a plant or plant variety: particularly robust and hardy; esp. able to withstand low temperatures and frost.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > hardy or not hardy
tender1614
hardy1629
sturdy1695
nicec1710
tenderish1798
half-hardy1818
ironclad1871
1871 Rep. Iowa State Hort. Soc. 1870 128 The twelve ‘Iron Clad’ varieties recommended for Northern Iowa, may be good in every respect on a soil naturally adapted to fruit culture.
1910 Garden & Home Builder Oct. 123/2 Cottage tulips are ironclad in the sense that they are not bothered by the rigors of the American winter.
1919 U. P. Hedrick Man. Amer. Grape-growing xviii. 399 The term, ‘ironclad’, used by grape growers to express hardiness and freedom from disease, is probably as applicable to Lady as to any other of the Labrusca grapes.
2008 J. Gillman Truth about Org. Gardening v. 69 Stress caused by a lack of water or nutrients can lead to a decrease in resistance in even the most ironclad plants.
5. Chiefly U.S. Of an extremely strict or rigorous character; unable to be changed, evaded, or resisted; firm, inflexible. Cf. cast iron n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > absence of doubt, confidence > assured fact, certainty > [adjective] > defined, well-formed
well-assureda1413
definite1553
firm1600
well-founded1608
stated1651
well-establisheda1685
ironclad1838
rock-bottom1889
1838 Musical World 5 Apr. 236 These old sonorous and iron-clad words—‘God is our refuge and strength,’ &c.
1884 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 25 Apr. The Governor signed the Oleomargarine bill to-day..the law..was drawn with care and is presumably ironclad.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lxix. 548 At the Republican national convention at Chicago in June 1880 an attempt was successfully made to impose the obligation by the following resolution, commonly called the ‘Iron clad Pledge’.
1911 H. S. Harrison Queed x. 114 He insisted on doing it after an ironclad schedule.
1930 Observer 1 June 11 The rationing system..is not so complete or ironclad as those which prevailed in various European countries during the war.
1951 E. Kefauver Crime in Amer. (1952) xix. 223 Police obtained ironclad evidence against a gangster known as Abe (Kid Twist) Reles.
2010 New Yorker 7 June 25/2 An ironclad guarantee that he'll reply to your e-mail within four months.
B. n.
1. An ironclad warship. See sense A. 2. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > iron-clad or armoured ship
Ironside1861
armour-clad1862
ironclad1862
hog in armour1864
1862 Weekly Mississippian 14 Jan. The Richmond..is already on the move to a point where she will ‘turn up’ to the discomfiture of the iron clads.
1863 Engineer 15 295/2 There is not as yet one foreign iron-clad which in real efficiency is worth a tenth of one of ours.
a1895 Ld. C. E. Paget Autobiogr. (1896) vi. 193 Already [sc. 1859] the French had launched La Gloire ironclad..I had given my evidence before the royal commission strongly urging the construction of ironclads.
1908 H. G. Wells War in Air i. 18 They started ironclads, they started submarines, they started navigables.
1965 Pop. Mech. June 194/2 In October, the ironclad was finally lifted intact from the sticky bottom of the Yazoo.
1991 T. Pakenham Scramble for Afr. viii. 132 The sight of the ironclads—two French and two British—anchored in the outer harbour at Alexandria made the nationalists' blood race.
2. Something likened to an ironclad ship, esp. in being strong or resilient; something which has a hard outer casing, esp. of iron.
ΚΠ
1866 Daily News 16 July 5/3 These ‘iron-clads’ have now quite superseded the old marine galvanometers.
1867 J. N. Edwards Shelby 483 The West Pointers were the iron-clads in our wooden navy.
1892 O. F. Whitney Hist. Utah I. 547 The ravages of the ‘iron-clads’ [i.e. grasshoppers] were wide-spread and far-reaching.
1921 Amer. Poultry Jrnl. Mar. 322 (advt.) Don't class this big, galvanized iron covered dependable hatcher with cheaply constructed machines. Ironclads are not covered with cheap thin metal and painted.
1974 Oxf. Times 19 Apr. 3/3 ‘Iron clads’ are the..term for day-old Chelsea buns.
2003 BusinessWeek 10 Nov. 134/1 If you put a high premium on mobility, you won't like the physical toll these ironclads [i.e. laptops] will take.
3. North American. A robust and hardy plant or plant variety. Cf. A. 4b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [noun] > hardy plant
hardy1856
ironclad1870
1870 Small Fruit Rec. Aug. 66/1 While the few can grow almost anything, the masses..are obliged to depend more directly upon the ‘ironclads’.
1882 Trans. Minnesota Hort. Soc. 97 I advise orchard growing from ironclads.
1964 Alton (Illinois) Evening Tel. 26 Feb. a10/7 We will have to stick to what the trade calls the old iron-clads; varieties that have been tested for many years and..found to be good.
2009 Union Leader (Manchester, New Hampsh.) (Nexis) 23 June 1 The most popular selections [of rhododendrons]..are the so called ‘ironclads’: tough plants that are hardy to Zone 4.
Compounds
ironclad oath n. (in the United States) an oath introduced during the Civil War of 1861–5 requiring certain government officials, employees, and members of certain other groups to swear that they had been loyal to the United States government in the past and would continue to be loyal in the future (now historical); (in extended use) any oath characterized by the severity of its requirements and penalties.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > assertion or affirmation > [noun] > solemn > other types
voluntary1593
assertory oath1617
bribery oath1734
Hippocratic oath1747
ironclad oath1864
tennis court oath1893
loyalty oath1952
1864 N.-Y. Times 27 Feb. 4/6 A number of citizens have..very singularly objected to this new requirement, and have denominated it the ‘iron-clad oath’.
1864 Deb. Convent. Revision & Amendment Constit. Louisiana 6 Apr. 9/2 Mr. Thomas moved, as an amendment, that the president of the Convention administer the ‘iron-clad’ oath to each and all the members of this Convention.
1866 Congress. Globe 14 Feb. 835/1 Traitors never would be troubled with the ‘iron-clad oath’, for they never would have a chance to take it.
1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs xxvi. 304 Some hard, iron-clad oaths and then shot after shot.
1884 Harper's Mag. Apr. 813/1 The House January 21, voted (185 to 11) to abolish the iron-clad oath.
1885 Economist 6 June 686/2 To follow the American precedent, and make ‘an ironclad oath’ to preserve the union of the two countries [sc. Great Britain and Ireland] a condition of election.
1934 Classical Weekly 29 Jan. 110/2 Hypnos exacts of Hera an ironclad oath that she will fulfill her promise to him.
2006 Amer. Hist. Rev. 111 841/2 Recruits had to be able to swear an ‘ironclad’ oath, effectively ensuring that almost all members were Republicans.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.a1752