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ironbound

[ahy-ern-bound]
adjective
  1. bound with iron.
  2. rock-bound; rugged.
  3. hard; rigid; unyielding.
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Origin of ironbound

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at iron, -bound1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for ironbound

Historical Examples

  • Ahmad smiled at Daoud and gestured again at the ironbound door.

    The Saracen: Land of the Infidel

    Robert Shea

  • Cleverness broke upon him like shipping on an ironbound coast.

  • Beyond it an ironbound coast runs down four hundred miles southeast to Cape Horn.

  • There, in front of the ironbound box, knelt Pomponio, busily at work on the stout padlock that guarded the treasures within.

    Old Mission Stories of California

    Charles Franklin Carter

  • A word dropped that I was returning there would bring me, by ironbound custom, an invitation to travel in their company.

    The Door Through Space

    Marion Zimmer Bradley

British Dictionary definitions for ironbound

ironbound

adjective
  1. bound with iron
  2. unyielding; inflexible
  3. (of a coast) rocky; rugged
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012