cast iron (kasti"ern)

and a. which has been cast, that is, melted and run into a mold in which it a umes the desired form. Most cast-iron is pig-iron which has been remelted in a cupola furnace; but some castings for special purposes are made by remelting in a reverberatory furnace, and occasionally direct from the blast-furnace. The iron made from ore by smelting in the blast-furnace is in fact cast iron, and its properties are not altered by remelting, but it is commonly known as pig - iron, or simply as pig. See foundry and iron. II. a. 1. Made of cast-iron: as, a cast - iron pot.-2. Having the qualities of or resembling cast-iron; hence, inflexible; unyielding: as, a cast - iron rule. His [Spenser's] fine ear, abhorrent of barbarous dis so made po ible the transition from the cast nance, iron stiffne of "Ferrex and Porrex" to the Damascus pliancy of Fletcher and Shakespeare. Lowell, N. A. Rev., CXX. 361.