ironstone

[ ahy-ern-stohn ]

/ ˈaɪ ərnˌstoʊn /

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noun

any iron-bearing mineral or rock with siliceous impurities.

Also called ironstone china. a hard white stoneware.

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Origin of ironstone

First recorded in 1515–25; iron + stone

Words nearby ironstone

ironsides, iron sights, irons in the fire, too many, ironsmith, iron sponge, ironstone, iron sulfate, Ironton, ironware, ironweed, ironwoman

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ironstone in a sentence

The town-walls are built of flint and concrete bonded with ironstone, and are backed with earth.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3|Various
Behind, and almost overhanging it, was a great krantz whose smooth ironstone wall glowed like a vast slab of red-hot metal.
A Frontier Mystery|Bertram Mitford
The first cargo of ironstone was sent from here in 1836, when the Pickering and Whitby Railway was opened.
Yorkshire Painted And Described|Gordon Home
Examples of this are chert nodules in limestone; flint nodules in chalk; clay-ironstone balls in shale, &c.
Geology|James Geikie

I found the magnetic polarity to be very distinct in some of the ironstone pebbles on these rises.
Successful Exploration Through the Interior of Australia|William John Wills

British Dictionary definitions for ironstone

ironstone

/ (ˈaɪənˌstəʊn) /

noun

any rock consisting mainly of an iron-bearing ore

Also called: ironstone china a tough durable earthenware

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