Definition of "andiron" [and•i•ron]

• One of a pair of metal supports used for holding up logs in a fireplace. Also called dog; also called regionally dog iron, firedog. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Under his government industry flourished,and the mines and smokestacks of the Ruhr supplied his régime with the coal and the steel which, even more than blood andiron, underwrote the prosperity of the Reich."
• "Then from the kitchen appeared Hristo with what looked like part of an andiron set with narrow pincers made for grabbing thin kindling, glowing bright orange."
• "She watched him commune with the stone for a few moments, then examined the andiron more closely."