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Iron Maiden of Nuremberg (The)

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An instrument of torture for “heretics,” traitors, parricides, etc. It was a box big enough to admit a man, with folding-doors, the whole studded with sharp iron spikes. When the doors were pressed-to these spikes were forced into the body of the victim, who was left there to die in horrible torture. (German, Eiserne Jungfrau.)

⁂ One of these diabolical machines was exhibited in 1892 in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, and in London.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Iron
Iron Age
Iron-arm
Iron Duke (The)
Iron-hand or the Iron-hander
Iron Horse (The)
Iron Mask
Iron-tooth [Dent de Fer]
Iron Crown of Lombardy
Iron entered into his Soul (The)
Iron Maiden of Nuremberg (The)
Irons (In)
Ironclad (An)
Ironclad Oath (The)
Ironside
Ironsides
Irony
Irony of Fate (The)
Iroquois (An)
Irrefragable Doctor
Irrelevant