Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. One of a pair of metal supports used for holding up logs in a fireplace. Also called dog; also called regionally dog iron, firedog.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A utensil for supporting wood when burning in a fireplace, one being placed on each side; a firedog; as, a pair of andirons.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. A utensil for supporting wood when burning in a fireplace, one being placed on each side; a firedog.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of a pair of metallic stands used to support wood burned on an open hearth.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. metal supports for logs in a fireplace
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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Under his government industry flourished,and the mines and smokestacks of the Ruhr supplied his régime with the coal and the steel which, even more than blood andiron, underwrote the prosperity of the Reich.
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Then from the kitchen appeared Hristo with what looked like part of an andiron set with narrow pincers made for grabbing thin kindling, glowing bright orange.
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She watched him commune with the stone for a few moments, then examined the andiron more closely.
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She tried tugging on a tall, ornate sphinx-shaped andiron.
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Grace was bearing down on the left andiron, shoving it toward the floor.
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Tom got out his chiefest jewel, a brass knob from the top of an andiron, and passed it around her so that she could see it, and said:
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He'd managed to grab an andiron by its coolest point and he waved it around.
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He turned and bent down and carefully placed the andiron back in the fireplace.
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In frustration he dashed the con - tents into the fire, then smashed the cup on the andiron.
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Other items found were a scissors-shaped candle snuffer used to trim wick, parts of a flintlock pistol, flatware, a coat button, an ornamental andiron, and a drawknife that may be part of a set of cooper's tools listed in a 1732 inventory of the Madisons 'property.
yarb commented on the word andiron
Andirons of brass, nearly six feet high, flanked the hearthstone.
- Frank Norris, The Octopus, bk 2, ch. 8
August 29, 2008