branding iron
3
5.7
- noun
- /ˈbrændɪŋ ˈaɪərn/
:
hierro de marcar
- The rancher heated the branding iron before applying it to the calf to mark it as his own.
- a hot branding iron
Examples
-
Don't forget the branding iron is in the trunk.
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Grab me that branding iron.
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Like a cowboy's branding iron.
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Take your branding irons with you.
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Branding irons stuck in the roaring fire.
Fiction book (1991) -
Before they knew it, they'd been given a shot, a yellow insect tag in one ear, a growth pellet in the other, then a burn on the butt with a branding iron.
Fiction book (1995) -
He carefully placed the branding iron on the fire, ensuring it was hot enough for the livestock.
-
Using a branding iron, she marked the horses to indicate ownership and prevent theft.
Synonyms
13
7.6
A metal tool heated to make a permanent mark on farm animals
A person or tool that uses a hot iron to mark animals to show who owns them
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'branding' denotes marking with a hot iron and 'iron' denotes a metal implement, so together they denote the metal tool used for branding livestock. This is a straightforward instrument compound that follows common noun+noun composition patterns and would be inferable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Branding iron comes from the real action of heating an iron tool to burn a brand (a mark) onto animals. Ranchers used that mark to show 'ownership', so today branding iron means the heated tool used to make that mark.