iron out

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iron out (third-person singular simple present irons out, present participle ironing out, simple past and past participle ironed out)

1. (transitive) To remove (a crease or creases) with an iron.

   That shirt still has a few more wrinkles to iron out.

2. (transitive) To make (something) flat or smooth as if with an iron.
   • 1951 January, Gordon W. Reynolds, “The Female Urethra and Chronic Urethritis”, in Northwest Medicine, volume 50, number 1, Portland, Ore.: Northwest Medical Publishing Association, page 34:

     Dilatation of this type “irons out the folds” of the urethra, giving better drainage of the paraurethral glands, stimulating circulation and promoting rapid healing, especially when small doses (7½ gr. q.i.d.) of one of the triple-sulfonamides are given as an adjunct.

3. (transitive, figurative) To resolve (a dispute); to solve (a problem).

   Let's just sit down and iron out an agreement on this issue.

   We need to iron out the wrinkles in the plan before implementing it.

   • 1964 November, P. F. Winding, “Re-shaping the LMR's North Western Line - 2”, in Modern Railways, page 346:

     Since this involves 11 of the main pre-grouping companies, it will doubtless take a good deal of time and patience to iron out all the anomalies, but at least it will simplify many procedures and help to weld the Line into a single efficient unit.

   • 2022 January 12, “Network News: Crossrail takes delivery of final Class 345”, in RAIL, number 948, page 16:

     The latest in a series of software updates was introduced in late 2021, as Alstom and Crossrail work to iron out any final bugs from the train systems before they start operating through the core tunnels under central London.

4. (transitive, slang) To thrash or beat up; to overwhelm in a fight.
   • 2023 July 25, Jack Evanoff, quoting Carl Froch, “"Iron him out" - Former champion reveals talks about potential fight with Jake Paul”, in Sportskeeda‎:

     It was a WhatsApp message saying, 'do you want to fight Christmas time/December? Exhibition, who ever you want'. […] Of course I would [fight a YouTuber] - especially Jake Paul! I'd iron him out. He wouldn't fight me though, would he?

5. (transitive, slang) To kill.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:kill

   • 2023 June 27, Lucy Norris, “Danny Dyer vows to ‘kill Putin’ and explains how we would do it in explosive rant”, in Metro‎:

     ‘I’ll f***king run out of the crowd with a f***king pillowcase, put it over his nut and just suffocate him.[’] […] He explained: ‘I think that’s the move because no-one’s going to iron him out and he needs to go don’t he, this geezer?[’]

• “iron out v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present