ironclad

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i·ron·clad

(ī′ərn-klăd′)

adj.

1. Sheathed with iron plates for protection.

2. Rigid; fixed: an ironclad rule.

A 19th-century warship having sides armored with metal plates.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ironclad

adj

1. covered or protected with iron: an ironclad warship.

2. inflexible; rigid: an ironclad rule.

3. not able to be assailed or contradicted: an ironclad argument.

(Historical Terms) a large wooden 19th-century warship with armoured plating

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

i•ron•clad

(adj. ˈaɪ ərnˈklæd; n. -ˌklæd)

adj.

1. covered or cased with iron plates, as a vessel; armor-plated.

2. very rigid or exacting; inflexible; unbreakable: an ironclad contract.

3. a wooden warship of the 19th century having iron or steel armor plating.

[1850–55]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	ironclad - a wooden warship of the 19th century that is plated with iron or steel armor combat ship, war vessel, warship - a government ship that is available for waging war
Adj.	1.	ironclad - sheathed in iron plates for protection sheathed - enclosed in a protective covering; sometimes used in combination; "his sheathed sword"; "the cat's sheathed claws"; "a ship's bottom sheathed in copper"; "copper-sheathed"
	2.	ironclad - inflexibly entrenched and unchangeable; "brassbound traditions"; "brassbound party loyalists"; "an ironclad rule" brassbound inflexible - incapable of change; "a man of inflexible purpose"

ironclad

adjective

Incapable of changing or being modified:

immutable, inalterable, inflexible, invariable, rigid, unalterable, unchangeable.

Translations

ironclad

[ˈaɪənklæd]

A. ADJ → acorazado (fig) [proof] → irrefutable, incontrovertible; [alibi] → incontrovertible, incuestionable

B. N → acorazado m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

References in classic literature ?

I began to compare the things to human ma- chines, to ask myself for the first time in my life how an ironclad or a steam engine would seem to an intelligent lower animal.

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Then, too, a number of cars were apt to arrive late in the day, now that the roads were blocked with snow, and the packers would buy their cattle that night, to get them cheaper, and then would come into play their ironclad rule, that all cattle must be killed the same day they were bought.

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Everything went perfectly well to the last moment when suddenly the Numancia (a Republican ironclad) had appeared and chased them ashore on the French coast below Bayonne.

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Now it was rumoured the British had an overwhelming gun, now the French an invincible rifle, now the Japanese a new explosive, now the Americans a submarine that would drive every ironclad from the seas.

The airship and the flying-machine were very different things from ironclads, which take a couple of years to build.

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When I had snaked five men out, things began to look serious to the ironclads, and they stopped and consulted together.

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There around us lay treasures enough to pay off a moderate national debt, or to build a fleet of ironclads, and yet we would have bartered them all gladly for the faintest chance of escape.

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Except for the Albemarle, no Confederate ironclad was sunk or destroyed by enemy action.

Confederate Ironclads at War

In general, our alliance is ironclad and we are committed to the Mutual Defense Treaty and in protecting our treaty ally the Philippines in ensuring its sovereignty isn't threatened,' said Dr.

US 'committed to protecting treaty ally' but stand on sea row unclear

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