Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Iron \I"ron\ ([imac]"[u^]rn), a. [AS. [=i]ren, [=i]sen. See
   {Iron}, n.]
   1. Of, or made of iron; consisting of iron; as, an iron bar,
      dust.

   2. Resembling iron in color; as, iron blackness.

   3. Like iron in hardness, strength, impenetrability, power of
      endurance, insensibility, etc.; as:
      (a) Rude; hard; harsh; severe.

                Iron years of wars and dangers.   --Rowe.

                Jove crushed the nations with an iron rod.
                                                  --Pope.
      (b) Firm; robust; enduring; as, an iron constitution.
      (c) Inflexible; unrelenting; as, an iron will.
      (d) Not to be broken; holding or binding fast; tenacious.
          ``Him death's iron sleep oppressed.'' --Philips.

   Note: Iron is often used in composition, denoting made of
         iron, relating to iron, of or with iron; producing
         iron, etc.; resembling iron, literally or figuratively,
         in some of its properties or characteristics; as,
         iron-shod, iron-sheathed, iron-fisted, iron-framed,
         iron-handed, iron-hearted, iron foundry or
         iron-foundry.

   {Iron age}.
      (a) (Myth.) The age following the golden, silver, and
          bronze ages, and characterized by a general
          degeneration of talent and virtue, and of literary
          excellence. In Roman literature the Iron Age is
          commonly regarded as beginning after the taking of
          Rome by the Goths, A. D. 410.
      (b) (Arch[ae]ol.) That stage in the development of any
          people characterized by the use of iron implements in
          the place of the more cumbrous stone and bronze.

   {Iron cement}, a cement for joints, composed of cast-iron
      borings or filings, sal ammoniac, etc.

   {Iron clay} (Min.), a yellowish clay containing a large
      proportion of an ore of iron.

   {Iron cross}, a Prussian order of military merit; also, the
      decoration of the order.

   {Iron crown}, a golden crown set with jewels, belonging
      originally to the Lombard kings, and indicating the
      dominion of Italy. It was so called from containing a
      circle said to have been forged from one of the nails in
      the cross of Christ.

   {Iron flint} (Min.), an opaque, flintlike, ferruginous
      variety of quartz.

   {Iron founder}, a maker of iron castings.

   {Iron foundry}, the place where iron castings are made.

   {Iron furnace}, a furnace for reducing iron from the ore, or
      for melting iron for castings, etc.; a forge; a
      reverberatory; a bloomery.

   {Iron glance} (Min.), hematite.

   {Iron hat}, a headpiece of iron or steel, shaped like a hat
      with a broad brim, and used as armor during the Middle
      Ages.

   {Iron horse}, a locomotive engine. [Colloq.]

   {Iron liquor}, a solution of an iron salt, used as a mordant
      by dyers.

   {Iron man} (Cotton Manuf.), a name for the self-acting
      spinning mule.

   {Iron} {mold or mould}, a yellow spot on cloth stained by
      rusty iron.

   {Iron ore} (Min.), any native compound of iron from which the
      metal may be profitably extracted. The principal ores are
      magnetite, hematite, siderite, limonite, G["o]thite,
      turgite, and the bog and clay iron ores.

   {Iron pyrites} (Min.), common pyrites, or pyrite. See
      {Pyrites}.

   {Iron sand}, an iron ore in grains, usually the magnetic iron
      ore, formerly used to sand paper after writing.

   {Iron scale}, the thin film which on the surface of wrought
      iron in the process of forging. It consists essentially of
      the magnetic oxide of iron, {Fe3O4>}.

   {Iron works}, a furnace where iron is smelted, or a forge,
      rolling mill, or foundry, where it is made into heavy
      work, such as shafting, rails, cannon, merchant bar, etc.

Magnet \Mag"net\, n. [OE. magnete, OF. magnete, L. magnes,
   -etis, Gr. ? ? a magnet, metal that looked like silver,
   prop., Magnesian stone, fr. Gr. ?, a country in Thessaly. Cf.
   {Magnesia}, {Manganese}.]
   1. The loadstone; a species of iron ore (the ferrosoferric or
      magnetic ore, {Fe3O4}) which has the property of
      attracting iron and some of its ores, and, when freely
      suspended, of pointing to the poles; -- called also
      {natural magnet}.

            Dinocrates began to make the arched roof of the
            temple of Arsino["e] all of magnet, or this
            loadstone.                            --Holland.

            Two magnets, heaven and earth, allure to bliss, The
            larger loadstone that, the nearer this. --Dryden.

   2. (Physics) A bar or mass of steel or iron to which the
      peculiar properties of the loadstone have been imparted;
      -- called, in distinction from the loadstone, an
      {artificial magnet}.

   Note: An artificial magnet, produced by the action of a
         voltaic or electrical battery, is called an
         {electro-magnet}.

   {Field magnet} (Physics & Elec.), a magnet used for producing
      and maintaining a magnetic field; -- used especially of
      the stationary or exciting magnet of a dynamo or
      electromotor in distinction from that of the moving
      portion or armature.

Magnetite \Mag"net*ite\, n. (Min.)
   An oxide of iron ({Fe3O4}) occurring in isometric crystals,
   also massive, of a black color and metallic luster. It is
   readily attracted by a magnet and sometimes possesses
   polarity, being then called {loadstone}. It is an important
   iron ore. Called also {magnetic iron}.

Multiple \Mul"ti*ple\, a. [Cf. F. multiple, and E. quadruple,
   and multiply.]
   Containing more than once, or more than one; consisting of
   more than one; manifold; repeated many times; having several,
   or many, parts.

   {Law of multiple proportion} (Chem.), the generalization that
      when the same elements unite in more than one proportion,
      forming two or more different compounds, the higher
      proportions of the elements in such compounds are simple
      multiplies of the lowest proportion, or the proportions
      are connected by some simple common factor; thus, iron and
      oxygen unite in the proportions {FeO}, {Fe2O3}, {Fe3O4},
      in which compounds, considering the oxygen, 3 and 4 are
      simple multiplies of 1. Called also the {Law of Dalton},
      from its discoverer.

   {Multiple algebra}, a branch of advanced mathematics that
      treats of operations upon units compounded of two or more
      unlike units.

   {Multiple conjugation} (Biol.), a coalescence of many cells
      (as where an indefinite number of am[oe]boid cells flow
      together into a single mass) from which conjugation proper
      and even fertilization may have been evolved.

   {Multiple fruits}. (Bot.) See {Collective fruit}, under
      {Collective}.

   {Multiple star} (Astron.), several stars in close proximity,
      which appear to form a single system.

Scale \Scale\, n. [Cf. AS. scealu, scalu, a shell, parings; akin
   to D. schaal, G. schale, OHG. scala, Dan. & Sw. skal a shell,
   Dan. ski[ae]l a fish scale, Goth. skalja tile, and E. shale,
   shell, and perhaps also to scale of a balance; but perhaps
   rather fr. OF. escale, escaile, F. ['e]caille scale of a
   fish, and ['e]cale shell of beans, pease, eggs, nuts, of
   German origin, and akin to Goth. skalja, G. schale. See
   {Shale}.]
   1. (Anat.) One of the small, thin, membranous, bony or horny
      pieces which form the covering of many fishes and
      reptiles, and some mammals, belonging to the dermal part
      of the skeleton, or dermoskeleton. See {Cycloid},
      {Ctenoid}, and {Ganoid}.

            Fish that, with their fins and shining scales, Glide
            under the green wave.                 --Milton.

   2. Hence, any layer or leaf of metal or other material,
      resembling in size and thinness the scale of a fish; as, a
      scale of iron, of bone, etc.

   3. (Zo["o]l.) One of the small scalelike structures covering
      parts of some invertebrates, as those on the wings of
      Lepidoptera and on the body of Thysanura; the elytra of
      certain annelids. See {Lepidoptera}.

   4. (Zo["o]l.) A scale insect. (See below.)

   5. (Bot.) A small appendage like a rudimentary leaf,
      resembling the scales of a fish in form, and often in
      arrangement; as, the scale of a bud, of a pine cone, and
      the like. The name is also given to the chaff on the stems
      of ferns.

   6. The thin metallic side plate of the handle of a
      pocketknife. See Illust. of {Pocketknife}.

   7. An incrustation deposit on the inside of a vessel in which
      water is heated, as a steam boiler.

   8. (Metal.) The thin oxide which forms on the surface of iron
      forgings. It consists essentially of the magnetic oxide,
      {Fe3O4}. Also, a similar coating upon other metals.

   {Covering scale} (Zo["o]l.), a hydrophyllium.

   {Ganoid scale}. (Zo["o]l.) See under {Ganoid}.

   {Scale armor} (Mil.), armor made of small metallic scales
      overlapping, and fastened upon leather or cloth.

   {Scale beetle} (Zo["o]l.), the tiger beetle.

   {Scale carp} (Zo["o]l.), a carp having normal scales.

   {Scale insect} (Zo["o]l.), any one of numerous species of
      small hemipterous insects belonging to the family
      {Coccid[ae]}, in which the females, when adult, become
      more or less scalelike in form. They are found upon the
      leaves and twigs of various trees and shrubs, and often do
      great damage to fruit trees. See {Orange scale},under
      {Orange}.

   {Scale moss} (Bot.), any leafy-stemmed moss of the order
      {Hepatic[ae]}; -- so called from the small imbricated
      scalelike leaves of most of the species. See {Hepatica},
      2, and {Jungermannia}.