Definition of "iron heel" []

• An instrument of torture that is used to heat or crush the foot and leg (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "I looked at his stupid, leering face and heavy jowl, and the sloped-back forehead which the iron heel had flattened with its cruel touch."
• "But alas! we were only slaves, and had no legal rights; consequently we were compelled to smother our wounded feel - ings, and crouch beneath the iron heel of des - potism."
• "The public press, which should be free, impartial and untrammeled as moulders of thought and public opinion, are cringing, bowing and scraping, and making concessions to a power whose aim is to make slaves of the souls and bodies of men and tread and crush the nations of man beneath the iron heel of the greatest despot that ever sat upon an earthly throne or reigned over an empire."