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ironworking

ironworking

4.2
The craft of shaping iron to make tools and structures
  • noun
  • /ˈaɪərnˌwɜrkɪŋ/
translation icon : forja
  • During the workshop, participants learned the fundamentals of ironworking and crafted their own metal objects.

Examples

  • SCOPE: How far back does ironworking go in your family?

    Fiction book (2002)
  • "We'll get a regular ironworking shop going, straight from the kiln and into a full-size works."

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Ironworking is a metaphor for the almost mystical abilities of rulers to incarnate the past and to perpetuate it in the present.

    Academic text (1998)
  • A Luba proverb states, "The anvil is the secret of power and progress," a reference both to the wealth implied by metalworking technologies and the more symbolic dimensions of ironworking as an art of transformation.

    Academic text (1998)
  • This king is considered the founding father of Kuba society; during his reign in the seventeenth century, he introduced or encouraged many important elements of Kuba culture, including ironworking, textile production, and woodcarving.

    Academic text (2001)
  • The blacksmith used his skills in ironworking to create a beautiful gate for the garden.

  • Many ancient civilizations depended on ironworking to produce essential tools and weapons.

Synonyms

blacksmithing
vsironworking
  • Specialized
2 4.5

A craft of shaping metal by heating and hitting it by hand to make or fix things

is limited to working a specific common structural metal rather than all metals
metalworking
vsironworking
1 3.5

Work that shapes metal into useful or decorative objects with tools

is focused on a single common structural metal rather than metals in general
smithing
vsironworking
1 5.8

A craft of making and fixing metal things by heating and hitting them

is limited to working a specific common structural metal rather than all metals
forging
vsironworking
  • Specialized
1 4.6

A way of shaping metal by heating it and hitting it with a hammer

is the broader craft and industry that includes this shaping process for a specific metal
metalwork
vsironworking
1 3.8

Making objects by shaping and joining pieces of metal

refers specifically to work with one common structural metal rather than metals in general

How Specialized

blacksmithing
  • Specialized
2 4.5
ironworking
4.2
metalworking
1 3.5

Surface Forms

ironworking singular
ironworkings plural

Morphology

ironworking = iron + work (transparent) = iron + work + ing

The meaning is directly compositional: iron + work + -ing clearly denotes the activity or craft of working with iron.

Etymology

Ironworking is built from iron ('a common metal') and working ('making or shaping by hand or tools'). Think of a blacksmith heating and hammering metal to make tools or gates, and you have the image of ironworking, the craft of making things from iron.