cast-iron stomach

cast-iron stomach (plural cast-iron stomachs)

1. (figuratively) A capacity to consume without difficulty quantities of alcohol, spicy food, spoiled food, or other food and drink that would normally cause indigestion.
   • 1863, Dio Lewis, Weak Lungs and how to Make Them Strong, page 75:

     An animal man, with a cast-iron stomach, or, perhaps quite as often a dyspeptic, with a suffering stomach and ruined health, will say, “don’t keep thinking about your food; it will give you the dyspepsia.

   • 1989 January, Texas Monthly, volume 17, number 1, page 125:

     I love to travel and to shop, and I've got a cast-iron stomach, so I gain about ten pounds every trip.

   • 2009, Norman Barasch, The Joy of Laughter: My Life as a Comedy Writer, page 104:

     Carroll, with his normally cast-iron stomach, began to complain of stomach pains.

   • 2011, Helen Evans, Reluctant Heroes, page 19:

     He must have a cast iron stomach too. He volunteered to finish off any spare sandwiches or apple cores or even orange peel, if there were any, going begging.