Iron Out

To iron something out, in a literal sense, refers to using a hot iron to remove the wrinkles, creases, or folds from a garment or piece of fabric. In other words, when you iron out cloth, you make it smooth by pressing it with a flat piece of heated metal. To iron out is also used figuratively in a more general sense.

Meaning of Idiom ‘Iron Out’ (phrasal verb)

To iron something out is to remove problems or work out solutions; to remove faults or errors; to get rid of difficulties that affect something; to work out the details or final problems of something; to resolve minor difficulties or impediments to success. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Definition of iron something out from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press,3Definition of iron out phrasal verb from the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/iron-out,4Ayto, John. [http://amzn.to/2vdGvI7 Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms]. Oxford: Oxford U, 2010.

To iron out often refers to correcting the faults in something new. In computer lingo, this may be ‘ironing out the bugs.’ A bug is a small fault, flaw, or error. So to iron out the bugs means to remove the last remaining faults or errors.

See Six Meanings for Bug in English

Sometimes, the phrase iron out is used in the more complete phrase “iron out the wrinkles in something.” Other words can be used such as differences, problems, details, etc. For example, “We’re meeting tomorrow to iron out the details of the deal.”

Sentence Examples

“I’m sure that if we talk we can iron out our differences.”

“When can we meet to iron out the details of the contract?”

“There are still a few things to iron out but we’re almost ready to go.”

“I can’t open the restaurant till I iron out some of these plumbing issues.”

“If the two countries can’t iron out their differences, the war is sure to resume.”

“Today I tested the machine. Taking precautions in case Tesla hadn’t ironed out the kinks in its operation.” — The Prestige (2006)

“Anything goes wrong down there, you have their people call your people in New York, understand? I don’t want to come down here and iron anything out.” — Donnie Brasco (1997)

“I think we ought to do that talk with Jack now. Maybe iron this thing out before we start the new year?” — Boogie Nights (1997)

“It’s just a glitch in the net changeover, sir. I’ll have it ironed out momentarily.” — G.I. Jane (1997)

“So, didn’t you tell him what time we’d be getting here? We didn’t have time to iron out the details.” — The King of Comedy (1982)

“Listen, I know there’s a lot of things to be worked out here. I know that there’s issues that need to be ironed out. But it’s very important to me that you know how much I love your daughter.” — Like Crazy (2012)

“Mr. Prime Minister, we’re ironing out the last kinks on the Yaguchi Plan. We ask your approval to deploy it.”  — Shin Godzilla (2016)

Origin

People have been using ‘irons’ to remove the wrinkles from clothing for thousands of years. The first irons were heated rocks used to smooth out animal hides. The Chinese started using metal to iron around 1000 years ago. The first electric iron was patented in 1882.

While iron can be used alone as a verb, as in ‘Iron a shirt,’ the phrasal verb iron out as been used since the 1800s and passed into figurative use in the same century.