ironclad

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   so strong, certain, or securely established that it cannot easily be challenged or broken

   The prosecutor presented an ironclad case supported by video and DNA evidence.

2. 2
   noun

   a nineteenth-century warship protected by iron or steel armor plates

   The museum's model shows how an ironclad differed from an older wooden warship.

3. 3
   adj

   covered or protected with iron or another strong metal

   The ironclad hull survived repeated fire from the coastal batteries.

Formed in English from iron + clad ('clothed or covered'). It first described nineteenth-century warships sheathed in iron armor. By metaphor, an ironclad promise, rule, alibi, or argument is protected against attack and therefore exceptionally secure.

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