pig iron
Americannoun
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iron tapped from a blast furnace and cast into pigs in preparation for conversion into steel, cast iron, or wrought iron.
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iron in the chemical state in which it exists when tapped from the blast furnace, without alloying or refinement.
noun
Etymology
Origin of pig iron
First recorded in 1655–65
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.
And companies rewarded their employees with that thinking in mind: “The more pig iron you load, the higher your daily wage.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 12, 2025
Other sectors included pig iron production at 12%, with cement, road freight transport, and private power generation each covering 7% of total emissions.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024
A third stream comes when the resulting pig iron is turned into steel by cooking it a bit further—baking off most of the remaining carbon—and alloying it with additives such as chromium or titanium.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 30, 2024
The Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday and is now close to Bulgarian territorial waters, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 2, 2023
The fire was so intense that piles of pig iron melted like wax left in the sun, granite blocks split in two, and limestone and marble turned to powder and blew away.
From "The Great Fire" by Jim Murphy
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.
