flatiron

• flat iron, flat-iron

From flat +‎ iron.

• Audio (US):

  (file)

flatiron (plural flatirons)

1. A simple iron (for pressing laundry) which is heated on a stove.
   • 1881 December 3, Sydney Punch, page 8, column 2:

     The evil-smelling larrikin, beer-imbued —
     The evil-loving brute-man homeward goes,
     He kicks his dirty children with his boot,
     Cursing their hunger, — and his poor worn wife
     With cold flat-irons and handled broom awaits
     His coming, to revile his drinking hard.

2. A pair of metal tongs with heated ceramic plates used for straightening hair.
3. (especially referring to the shape of a building) a quadrilateral with two parallel sides, one of which is very short, and whose non-parallel sides are longer than either parallel side.
4. (geomorphology) A steeply sloping triangular landform created by the differential erosion of a steeply dipping, erosion-resistant layer of rock overlying softer strata.
5. Ellipsis of flat iron steak.

• (tool for hair): straightener

flatiron (not comparable)

1. Having a flatiron shape.

   a flatiron building

   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars:

     The street down which Warwick had come intersected Front Street at a sharp angle in front of the old hotel, forming a sort of flatiron block at the junction, known as Liberty Point

• flatiron steak

• inflator