Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A cuirassier or cuirassiers; also, hardy veteran soldiers; -- applied specifically to Cromwell's cavalry.
- noun (U. S. Hist.) A nickname for the U.S.S. Constitution, a sailing ship which fought in the American Revolutionary war, and now functions as a floating museum in Boston harbor. It was given its nickname because cannonballs bounced off its hard wooden sides.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun English general and statesman who led the parliamentary army in the English Civil War (1599-1658)
Etymologies
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Examples
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As far as a modern USS Constitution (old 'ironsides') to blast a broadside and solve the problem of these pirates, please reread my March 25, 2007 OEN article, "With their own Rope" by
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I have no stomach for them really, no more stomach, and I consider myself a bit of an ironsides, but I am out of acid to digest them with.
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What about sanctimonious Cromwell and his ironsides that put the women and children of Drogheda to the sword with the bible text GOD IS LOVE pasted round the mouth of his cannon?
Ulysses 2003
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USING my workshop, Caleb had carved a gunboat out of balsam, fashioned after the ironsides of the War Between the States.
Stillwater William F. Weld 2002
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USING my workshop, Caleb had carved a gunboat out of balsam, fashioned after the ironsides of the War Between the States.
Stillwater William F. Weld 2002
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USING my workshop, Caleb had carved a gunboat out of balsam, fashioned after the ironsides of the War Between the States.
Stillwater William F. Weld 2002
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***** 'The Spaulding' has passed and gone ahead of us; her ironsides can carry her safely past the rifle-pits which line the shore.
Woman's Work in the Civil War A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience Mary C. Vaughan
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"Do you honestly mean it when you say she is not an elderly ironsides with spectacles?"
The Nest Builder Beatrice Forbes-Robertson Hale
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His books lack the extempore felicities and the reflected fellow-feeling which lent a charm to his spoken sermons; and on the table-land of his controversial treatises, sentence follows sentence like a file of ironsides, in buff and rusty steel, a sturdy procession, but a dingy uniform; and it is only here and there where a son of Anak has burst his rags, that you glimpse a thought of uncommon stature or wonderful proportions.
The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 5, No. 1, January, 1852 Various
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This Mercy was granddaughter to one of Cromwell's ironsides, and brought her rare personal merit into their house, and also the best blood of the old Puritans, than which there is no blood in Europe more rich in male courage, female chastity, and all the virtues.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 109, November, 1866 Various
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