Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Ironsides

Ironsides , noun

A cuirassier or cuirassiers; also, hardy veteran soldiers; -- applied specifically to Cromwell's cavalry.
Collocations (1)
Old Ironsides (U. S. Hist.) , A nickname for the U.S.S. Constitution, a sailing ship which fought in the American Revolutionary war, and now functions as a floating museum in Boston harbor. It was given its nickname because cannonballs bounced off its hard wooden sides.