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.
She falls, strikes her head against a fraternity andiron.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
These show an early advance from the simple andiron, and point to the later developments of the fire-grate with the fast bars which were to come.
From Chats on Household Curios by Fred. W. (Frederick William) Burgess
I have wondered sometimes why the philosophers have not hit upon the andiron as a particularly fitting subject for pleasurable rumination.
From Making a Fireplace by Henry H. (Henry Hodgman) Saylor
A mug of cider stood near one andiron; leaning against the other was a flat stone,—the Squire's "Simon."
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 78, April, 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.
