pig iron

noun

iron tapped from a blast furnace and cast into pigs in preparation for conversion into steel, cast iron, or wrought iron.

iron in the chemical state in which it exists when tapped from the blast furnace, without alloying or refinement.

Origin of pig iron

First recorded in 1655–65

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pig iron

Historical Examples of pig iron

If ye say no too early he'll be on t'ye like a ton o' pig-iron.
The Making Of A Novelist
David Christie Murray
The ship was laden with pig-iron, but she rolled and rolled and rolled.
McClure's Magazine, Vol 31, No 2, June 1908
Various
We supply the North and East with pig-iron, machinery, God knows what.
The Ghost Girl
H. De Vere Stacpoole
The pig-iron was mostly amidships, or at least forward of this compartment.
A Chosen Few
Frank R. Stockton
Its better fun diving after pig-iron than after mussel-shells, isnt it?
The Last of the Flatboats
George Cary Eggleston

British Dictionary definitions for pig iron

pig iron

noun

crude iron produced in a blast furnace and poured into moulds in preparation for making wrought iron, steels, alloys, etc

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

Word Origin and History for pig iron

1660s; see pig (n.) + iron (n.).