▪ I. iron-mould, -mold, n.
(ˈaɪənˈməʊld)
Also 7 -mole.
[f. iron n.1 + mould, mold, earlier mole, OE. mál, mole, spot, mark.]
1. A spot or discoloration on cloth, etc., caused by iron-rust or an ink-stain.
| α 1601 Holland Pliny II. 47 The decoction will..take out any stain in cloths, euen the very iron-mole. 1642 Rogers Naaman 447 Some grosse sins..which are as iron moles, and will hardly be worne out of the flesh. a 1659 Osborn Observ. Turks Pref. (1673) 4 Book-worms, who, like Iron⁓moles, discolour the sense and obliterate the natural meaning of Authors. |
| β 1639 Junius Sin Stigmat. §98. 378 Fine linnen being once stained with black Inke..will retaine an Iron-mould ever after. 1788 Trans. Soc. Arts VI. 169 In this [paper] there are no Iron Moulds. 1828 Webster, Ironmold. 1833 J. Rennie Alph. Angling 67 Yellowish spots very much like iron-moulds. 1872 J. G. Murphy Comm. Levit. xiii. 49 Ironmould is a familiar example of a stain caused by a chemical process. |
b. fig.
| 1644 Milton Areop. (Arb.) 58 Such iron moulds as these shall have autority to knaw out the choicest periods of exquisitest books. 1660 J. Spencer Righteous Ruler 37 Arms, the iron-mole that stained our religion, and eat out order and law. |
2. (See quot.)
| 1706 Phillips, Iron-moulds, certain yellow Lumps of Earth or Stone found in Chalk-pits about the Chiltern in Oxfordshire, which are really a kind of indigested Iron-Oar. 1778 England's Gazetteer (ed. 2), Berrick-Priory..noted for chalk pits, in which is found a sort of iron-coloured terra lapidosa, in the very body of the chalk, which the diggers call iron-moulds. |
▪ II. ˈiron-ˌmould, -mold, v.
[f. prec. n.]
trans. and intr. To stain or become stained with iron-mould. Hence ˈiron-ˌmoulded ppl. a.
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Clear Starching, If your Muslins be Iron-moulded. 1873 Dawson Earth & Man vi. 112 The superabundant oxide of iron..so to speak ‘iron-moulds’ them. ? c 1890 W. H. Casmey Notes Ventilation 8 Drops falling from the beams often caused the warps to iron-mould. |