Word.ws English Dictionary

black iron

black iron noun: free weights as opposed to exercise machines.

Noun

black iron (uncountable)

  1. (gym jargon) Free weights as opposed to exercise machines.
    • The problem we had was not the concept or the product, but what to do with the space. To put a beauty salon alongside a black iron gym was ludicrous.2017, Ken Heathcote, We're Going To Live Forever: The Secrets To Eternal Youth, page 44
    • There^([sic]) always lifting big, black iron and such, grunting, screaming out shit and slamming down the barbells […]2021, Jane Brooke, Vegas Savages

Origin of black iron

From the typical paint color and material traditionally used for free weights (cast iron with black paint).

Questions about black iron

What does black iron mean?
Black iron means free weights as opposed to exercise machines.
What part of speech is black iron?
Black iron is a noun.

Words near black iron in the dictionary

  1. black in
  2. black in the face
  3. black information
  4. Black International
  5. Black Irish
  6. black iron
  7. Black Isle
  8. black ivory
  9. black jack
  10. black jacks
  11. black jail

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: black iron (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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