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4 definitions found
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 :   [ gcide ]

  Iron \I"ron\ ([imac]"[u^]rn), n. [OE. iren, AS. [=i]ren,
     [=i]sen, [=i]sern; akin to D. ijzer, OS. [=i]sarn, OHG.
     [=i]sarn, [=i]san, G. eisen, Icel. [=i]sarn, j[=a]rn, Sw. &
     Dan. jern, and perh. to E. ice; cf. Ir. iarann, W. haiarn,
     Armor. houarn.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Chem.) The most common and most useful metallic element,
        being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form
        of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous
        oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an
        enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast
        iron, steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears
        dark brown, from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or
        on a fresh surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily
        oxidized (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many
        corrosive agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic number
        26, atomic weight 55.847. Specific gravity, pure iron,
        7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In magnetic properties, it is
        superior to all other substances.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The value of iron is largely due to the facility with
           which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is
           malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and
           forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is
           easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when
           tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is
           grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of
           iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less
           that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by
           roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from
           cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer
           converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly
           from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and
           generating furnace).
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in
        composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              My young soldier, put up your iron.   --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.
                                                    --Macaulay.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with
        a rod of iron.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. (Golf) An iron-headed club with a deep face, chiefly used
        in making approaches, lifting a ball over hazards, etc.
        [Webster 1913 Suppl.]
  
     Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below).
  
     Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog.
  
     Cast iron (Metal.), an impure variety of iron, containing
        from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is
        united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest
        is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free
        carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon
        has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See
        also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary.
  
     Fire irons. See under Fire, n.
  
     Gray irons. See under Fire, n.
  
     Gray iron. See Cast iron (above).
  
     It irons (Naut.), said of a sailing vessel, when, in
        tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill
        away on either tack.
  
     Magnetic iron. See Magnetite.
  
     Malleable iron (Metal.), iron sufficiently pure or soft to
        be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a
        kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon
        or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less
        brittle, and to some extent malleable.
  
     Meteoric iron (Chem.), iron forming a large, and often the
        chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a
        small amount of nickel and cobalt. Cf. Meteorite.
  
     Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast
        furnace, being run into molds, called pigs.
  
     Reduced iron. See under Reduced.
  
     Specular iron. See Hematite.
  
     Too many irons in the fire, too many objects or tasks
        requiring the attention at once.
  
     White iron. See Cast iron (above).
  
     Wrought iron (Metal.), the purest form of iron commonly
        known in the arts, containing only about half of one per
        cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore,
        as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying
        (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or
        refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed
        into bars, it is called bar iron.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 :   [ gcide ]

  Reduce \Re*duce"\ (r[-e]*d[=u]s"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Reduced
     (-d[=u]st"),; p. pr. & vb. n. Reducing (-d[=u]"s[i^]ng).]
     [L. reducere, reductum; pref. red-. re-, re- + ducere to
     lead. See Duke, and cf. Redoubt, n.]
     1. To bring or lead back to any former place or condition.
        [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              And to his brother's house reduced his wife.
                                                    --Chapman.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The sheep must of necessity be scattered, unless the
              great Shephered of souls oppose, or some of his
              delegates reduce and direct us.       --Evelyn.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To bring to any inferior state, with respect to rank,
        size, quantity, quality, value, etc.; to diminish; to
        lower; to degrade; to impair; as, to reduce a sergeant to
        the ranks; to reduce a drawing; to reduce expenses; to
        reduce the intensity of heat. ``An ancient but reduced
        family.'' --Sir W. Scott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nothing so excellent but a man may fasten upon
              something belonging to it, to reduce it.
                                                    --Tillotson.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Having reduced
              Their foe to misery beneath their fears. --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which
              she found the clergyman reduced.      --Hawthorne.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To bring to terms; to humble; to conquer; to subdue; to
        capture; as, to reduce a province or a fort.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding,
        pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a
        substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit,
        wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It were but right
              And equal to reduce me to my dust.    --Milton.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement,
        classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within
        certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in
        computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a
        class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in
        astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Arith.)
        (a) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into
            another without altering their value, or from one
            denomination into others of the same value; as, to
            reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to
            reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to
            minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
        (b) To change the form of a quantity or expression without
            altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their
            lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     7. (Chem.) To add an electron to an atom or ion.
        Specifically: To remove oxygen from; to deoxidize.
        (Metallurgy) To bring to the metallic state by separating
        from combined oxygen and impurities; as, metals are
        reduced from their ores. (Chem.) To combine with, or to
        subject to the action of, hydrogen or any other reducing
        agent; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron;
        aldehydes can be reduced to alcohols by lithium hydride;
        -- opposed to oxidize.
        [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a
        displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a
        fracture, or a hernia.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through
        deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current
        of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used
        the product is called also iron by hydrogen.
  
     To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity
        by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the
        other side, without destroying the equation.
  
     To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent
        expression of simpler form.
  
     To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column
        from the square.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail;
          impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.
          [1913 Webster]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :   [ web1913 ]

  Iron \I"ron\ ([imac]"[u^]rn), n. [OE. iren, AS. [=i]ren,
     [=i]sen, [=i]sern; akin to D. ijzer, OS. [=i]sarn, OHG.
     [=i]sarn, [=i]san, G. eisen, Icel. [=i]sarn, j[=a]rn, Sw. &
     Dan. jern, and perh. to E. ice; cf. Ir. iarann, W. haiarn,
     Armor. houarn.]
     1. (Chem.) The most common and most useful metallic element,
        being of almost universal occurrence, usually in the form
        of an oxide (as hematite, magnetite, etc.), or a hydrous
        oxide (as limonite, turgite, etc.). It is reduced on an
        enormous scale in three principal forms; viz., cast iron,
        steel, and wrought iron. Iron usually appears dark brown,
        from oxidation or impurity, but when pure, or on a fresh
        surface, is a gray or white metal. It is easily oxidized
        (rusted) by moisture, and is attacked by many corrosive
        agents. Symbol Fe (Latin Ferrum). Atomic weight 55.9.
        Specific gravity, pure iron, 7.86; cast iron, 7.1. In
        magnetic properties, it is superior to all other
        substances.
  
     Note: The value of iron is largely due to the facility with
           which it can be worked. Thus, when heated it is
           malleable and ductile, and can be easily welded and
           forged at a high temperature. As cast iron, it is
           easily fusible; as steel, is very tough, and (when
           tempered) very hard and elastic. Chemically, iron is
           grouped with cobalt and nickel. Steel is a variety of
           iron containing more carbon than wrought iron, but less
           that cast iron. It is made either from wrought iron, by
           roasting in a packing of carbon (cementation) or from
           cast iron, by burning off the impurities in a Bessemer
           converter (then called Bessemer steel), or directly
           from the iron ore (as in the Siemens rotatory and
           generating furnace).
  
     2. An instrument or utensil made of iron; -- chiefly in
        composition; as, a flatiron, a smoothing iron, etc.
  
              My young soldier, put up your iron.   --Shak.
  
     3. pl. Fetters; chains; handcuffs; manacles.
  
              Four of the sufferers were left to rot in irons.
                                                    --Macaulay.
  
     4. Strength; power; firmness; inflexibility; as, to rule with
        a rod of iron.
  
     Bar iron. See Wrought iron (below).
  
     Bog iron, bog ore; limonite. See Bog ore, under Bog.
  
     Cast iron (Metal.), an impure variety of iron, containing
        from three to six percent of carbon, part of which is
        united with a part of the iron, as a carbide, and the rest
        is uncombined, as graphite. It there is little free
        carbon, the product is white iron; if much of the carbon
        has separated as graphite, it is called gray iron. See
        also Cast iron, in the Vocabulary.
  
     Fire irons. See under Fire, n.
  
     Gray irons. See under Fire, n.
  
     Gray iron. See Cast iron (above).
  
     It irons (Naut.), said of a sailing vessel, when, in
        tacking, she comes up head to the wind and will not fill
        away on either tack.
  
     Magnetic iron. See Magnetite.
  
     Malleable iron (Metal.), iron sufficiently pure or soft to
        be capable of extension under the hammer; also, specif., a
        kind of iron produced by removing a portion of the carbon
        or other impurities from cast iron, rendering it less
        brittle, and to some extent malleable.
  
     Meteoric iron (Chem.), iron forming a large, and often the
        chief, ingredient of meteorites. It invariably contains a
        small amount of nickel and cobalt. Cf. Meteorite.
  
     Pig iron, the form in which cast iron is made at the blast
        furnace, being run into molds, called pigs.
  
     Reduced iron. See under Reduced.
  
     Specular iron. See Hematite.
  
     Too many irons in the fire, too many objects requiring the
        attention at once.
  
     White iron. See Cast iron (above).
  
     Wrought iron (Metal.), the purest form of iron commonly
        known in the arts, containing only about half of one per
        cent of carbon. It is made either directly from the ore,
        as in the Catalan forge or bloomery, or by purifying
        (puddling) cast iron in a reverberatory furnace or
        refinery. It is tough, malleable, and ductile. When formed
        into bars, it is called bar iron.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) :   [ web1913 ]

  
  
     4. To bring to a certain state or condition by grinding,
        pounding, kneading, rubbing, etc.; as, to reduce a
        substance to powder, or to a pasty mass; to reduce fruit,
        wood, or paper rags, to pulp.
  
              It were but right And equal to reduce me to my dust.
                                                    --Milton.
  
     5. To bring into a certain order, arrangement,
        classification, etc.; to bring under rules or within
        certain limits of descriptions and terms adapted to use in
        computation; as, to reduce animals or vegetables to a
        class or classes; to reduce a series of observations in
        astronomy; to reduce language to rules.
  
     6. (Arith.)
        (a) To change, as numbers, from one denomination into
            another without altering their value, or from one
            denomination into others of the same value; as, to
            reduce pounds, shillings, and pence to pence, or to
            reduce pence to pounds; to reduce days and hours to
            minutes, or minutes to days and hours.
        (b) To change the form of a quantity or expression without
            altering its value; as, to reduce fractions to their
            lowest terms, to a common denominator, etc.
  
     7. (Chem.) To bring to the metallic state by separating from
        impurities; hence, in general, to remove oxygen from; to
        deoxidize; to combine with, or to subject to the action
        of, hydrogen; as, ferric iron is reduced to ferrous iron;
        or metals are reduced from their ores; -- opposed to
        oxidize.
  
     8. (Med.) To restore to its proper place or condition, as a
        displaced organ or part; as, to reduce a dislocation, a
        fracture, or a hernia.
  
     Reduced iron (Chem.), metallic iron obtained through
        deoxidation of an oxide of iron by exposure to a current
        of hydrogen or other reducing agent. When hydrogen is used
        the product is called also iron by hydrogen.
  
     To reduce an equation (Alg.), to bring the unknown quantity
        by itself on one side, and all the known quantities on the
        other side, without destroying the equation.
  
     To reduce an expression (Alg.), to obtain an equivalent
        expression of simpler form.
  
     To reduce a square (Mil.), to reform the line or column
        from the square.
  
     Syn: To diminish; lessen; decrease; abate; shorten; curtail;
          impair; lower; subject; subdue; subjugate; conquer.

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