andiron
Americannoun
noun
Regionalisms
Etymology
Origin of andiron
1250–1300; Middle English aundyr ( n ) e, Anglo-French aundyre, with the 2nd syllable taken as Middle English ire, iren iron < Old French andier, allegedly < Gaulish *anderos young animal (through known use of animals’ heads as decorations on andirons), though supposed relation between this word and Middle Welsh anneir, Breton annoer heifer, Old Irish ainder young woman, poses serious phonetic problems
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
On display in Manhattan's Robinson Galleries last week went a Wheelock retrospective show that started with the dachshund andiron, ended in 1940 with a crisp, stylized figure of Washington at Valley Forge.
From Time Magazine Archive
She falls, strikes her head against a fraternity andiron.
From Time Magazine Archive
The officials, seeing the marvellous work that he had put into it, sent the money to his shop; and he sent them the other andiron.
From Lives of the Most Eminent Painters Sculptors and Architects Vol. 04 (of 10), Filippino Lippi to Domenico Puligo by De Vere, Gaston du C.
On the charred lacework of the floor lay the leg of an old andiron with which Boaz Negro and his Angelina had set up housekeeping in that new house.
From O. Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1920 by Various
The andiron in question was a thick, roughly shaped bar of iron, bent at both ends, but the front end divided in two, to serve for feet, and furnished with a thick, short knob.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 76, February, 1864 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
