The act of using a hot flat tool to smooth wrinkles out of fabric, or solving problems and removing difficulties.
From 'iron' (the metal, Old English 'īren') pressed into service as a verb when flat heated irons became the standard tool for smoothing cloth (1500s). The metaphorical meaning 'smoothing out problems' emerged by the 1800s.
The phrase 'iron out the details' comes from exactly what ironing does—takes something wrinkled and messy and makes it smooth and flat—which is why people use the metaphor when they mean fixing problems or clarifying confusion.
Domestic labor historically gendered female; 'ironing' symbolizes unpaid household work assigned to women. Language has absorbed this association, though ironing itself is neutral.
Use factually without gendered assumptions. Recognize that domestic work is shared across genders in equitable households.
Women's unpaid domestic labor has been systematically undervalued; contemporary feminism documents and challenges these invisible workloads.
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