iron lung

noun

1. a chamberlike respirator, formerly used in the treatment of poliomyelitis, that encloses the whole body except the head and in which alternate pulsations of high and low pressure induce normal breathing movements or force air into and out of the lungs.

iron lung

noun

1. an airtight metal cylinder enclosing the entire body up to the neck and providing artificial respiration when the respiratory muscles are paralysed, as by poliomyelitis

2. informal,  a gas container used in dispensing beer

Word History and Origins

Origin of iron lung¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Lane spent the next several months in an iron lung.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

After an emergency tracheostomy operation, he was unable to breathe without the iron lung machine that now encased his small body.

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After he was paralyzed by polio at age 6, Paul Alexander was confined for much of his life to a yellow iron lung that kept him alive.

Read more on New York Times

Alexander was 6 when he began using an iron lung, a cylinder that encased his body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air into and out of his lungs.

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The polio survivor known as "the man in the iron lung" has died at the age of 78.

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