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• ironside
  ironside

  noun

  a strong person with great power of endurance or resistance.
• Ironside
  Ironside

  noun

  nickname of Edmund II of England See Edmund II

ironside

American  

[ahy-ern-sahyd] / ˈaɪ ərnˌsaɪd /

noun

• ironsides
  plural

1. a strong person with great power of endurance or resistance.

2. (initial capital letter) an epithet or nickname of Edmund II.

3. (initial capital letter) Usually Ironsides

   1. (used with a singular verb) a nickname of Oliver Cromwell.

   2. the soldiers serving under Cromwell.

4. (usually used with a singular verb) ironsides,

   1. an ironclad.

   2. Eastern U.S. scup.

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Ironside British  

/ ˈaɪənˌsaɪd /

noun

1. nickname of Edmund II of England See Edmund II

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ironsides
  plural

Etymology

Origin of ironside

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English; see origin at iron, side ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ironside Ironside ironsides

He displayed in his palm three silver dollars and the coolie bent his back to the sweep, the sampan heeling out from the black ironside like a thing alive.

From Peter the Brazen A Mystery Story of Modern China by Gayle Porter Hoskins

That man had he lived in Oliver’s time would have made a capital ironside, especially if mounted on one of those dray horses of his. 

From Lavengro The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest by William Knapp

Pernille Ironside, UNICEF's representative in Pakistan, said: "Every newborn deserves a safe start to life, and every mother and child should be able to receive care in a safe, secure health facility."

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

"The ONS figures prove what retailers have long been telling us – that retail theft is spiralling out of control," said British Retailers Association director Tom Ironside.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2025

Fortified with strong actors in small roles — Michael Ironside as a pit bull C.O.O.,

From New York Times ● May 11, 2023

Zim and Michael Ironside as ferocious squad leader Jean Rasczak.

From Washington Times ● Dec. 4, 2022

That Ironside rig doesn't conceal you: it reveals you, Karl!

From The Streets of Ascalon Episodes in the Unfinished Career of Richard Quarren, Esqre. by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers

It was the old Sixth corps—the "ironsides" from the Potomac army, who learned how to fight under brave John Sedgwick.

From Personal Recollections of a Cavalryman With Custer's Michigan Cavalry Brigade in the Civil War by James Harvey Kidd

With "his ironsides" and the Scottish horse he had driven the royal cavalry, under the earl of Newcastle, from their position on the left.

From The History of England from the First Invasion by the Romans to the Accession of King George the Fifth Volume 8 by Hilaire Belloc

"Do you honestly mean it when you say she is not an elderly ironsides with spectacles?"

From The Nest Builder by Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale