corrugated iron
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˈkɔrəˌɡeɪtɪd ˈaɪərn/
- UK
:
hierro corrugado
- The roof of the barn was made from sheets of corrugated iron that kept the rain out.
- corrugated iron roof
- corrugated iron shack
- corrugated iron sheets
Examples
-
The little town was made of one-story plank and corrugated iron, some adobe buildings.
Fiction book (1990) -
Because here in Jerusalem, the waste plots stood parched in the summer sun, and the buildings were made of stone and corrugated iron, and the sun scorched everything as though the war was already here.
Fiction book (1997) -
There were two of them, male and female, and they lived in a corrugated iron shack in the garden.
Fiction book (1995) -
I sagged back against the corrugated iron of the warehouse and closed my eyes.
Fiction book (1997) -
Today I see the corrugated iron roof of somebody's shack.
Fiction book (1999) -
In one wall was a battered corrugated-iron door, locked with an old-fashioned padlock.
Academic text (2007) -
The boy had never slept under anything but thatch, and he was startled by the drumming of rain on the corrugated iron roof.
Fiction book (2002) -
The farmer had to pay to put a new corrugated iron roof on it, and the council made him pour wavy lines of concrete between some of the looser rocks.
Fiction book (1994) -
Many houses in the rural area are built with corrugated iron to withstand harsh weather.
-
They constructed a storage shed using corrugated iron to protect their tools from the elements.
Synonyms
9
3.4
Thin, flat pieces of metal used to make or cover things
A thin flat metal made by rolling or hammering used for roofs and building parts
How Durable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is compositionally transparent: 'corrugated' describes a wavy/ridged surface and 'iron' names the metal, so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a wavy/ridged iron sheet used in construction. This adjective+noun combination follows a straightforward descriptive pattern found cross-linguistically, making the overall meaning predictable from the parts.
Etymology
The noun corrugated iron comes from how sheets of iron are pressed into wavy folds called corrugated, which makes the metal stronger and helps it keep rain off, so it is used for 'roofs' and 'walls'.