Iron Cross

American

noun

a German medal awarded for outstanding bravery or service during wartime.
(lowercase) an upright, crosslike position held between the rings, with the arms fully extended laterally and the legs held together and pointed downward.

Iron Cross British

noun

the highest decoration for bravery awarded to the German armed forces in wartime: instituted in 1813

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of Iron Cross

First recorded in 1870–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Arriving at the high point of the journey, elevation-wise, Ms. Kessler beholds the Cruz de Ferro, an iron cross regarded as an important source of spiritual uplift.

From The Wall Street Journal

Already, German tanks and armored personnel carriers, emblazoned with the military’s black Iron Cross insignia, are training in Lithuania’s Rudninkai forest close to the border with Belarus, Russia’s closest ally.

From The Wall Street Journal

After hitting the hillside in Hundred House, his body and that of his gunner Adolf Liessig were laid out by members of the local military in the farm's granary, where Brixius's Iron Cross was either lost or discarded.

From BBC

But after the bodies were taken away and the granary was handed back, Mr Bufton's parents, Jack and Muriel, found the lost Iron Cross embellished with the swastika.

From BBC

The family do not know why Brixius had been awarded the Iron Cross but, because it was given in September 1939, it was assumed it was for action over Poland or the Sudetenland.

From BBC

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023