ironstone

From iron +‎ stone.

ironstone (countable and uncountable, plural ironstones)

1. Any ore of iron which is impure through the admixture of silica or clay.
   • 1815, Mungo Park, chapter XXI, in Travels in the Interior of Africa‎, volume II, Cassell, published 1893:

     During my stay at Kamalia there was a smelting furnace at a short distance from the hut where I lodged, and the owner and his workmen made no secret about the manner of conducting the operation, and readily allowed me to examine the furnace, and assist them in breaking the ironstone.

   • 1924, D. H. Lawrence, chapter 3, in The Boy in the Bush, New York: Viking, published 1972, page 41:

     The trees like this barren ironstone formation. It's well they do, for nothing else does.

   • 1977, J. M. Coetzee, In the Heart of the Country, Penguin, published 1982, page 61:

     While I listen I sniff in the cordite fumes. Ironstone chipped against ironstone invokes a spark and a wisp of the same heady smoke.

   • 2019, Alan Staniforth, Cleveland Way, page 64:

     Just before Bloworth Crossing, you'll walk a short distance along the trackbed of the old mineral railway that connected the old ironstone mines at Rosedale with the blast furnaces of Middlesbrough.

2. A type of vitreous pottery similar to stoneware
   • 2000, Donna J. Seifert, Elizabeth Barthold O'Brien, Joseph Balicki, “Mary Ann Hall's first-class house: the archaeology of a capital brothel”, in Robert A. Schmidt, Barbara L. Voss, editors, Archaeologies of Sexuality, London: Routledge, page 120:

     More than 50 percent of the collection from Hall’s brothel is ironstone and porcelain. White ironstone tablewares became popular in the late 1850s, and the high percentage of this ware suggests attention to fashion.

• blackband ironstone
• carbonaceous ironstone

• “ironstone”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “ironstone”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

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