Iron horse is a pervasive term (considered by the early 21st century to be transitioning into an archaic reference) for a steam locomotive and the railway on which it travels, originating in the early 1800s, when horses still powered most machinery.[1][2]
The term was common and popular in both British and North American literary articles.
- ^ "Iron horse". Random House Dictionary. dictionary.com. Retrieved 29 September 2010.
–noun Older Use. A locomotive. Origin: 1825–35
- ^ Noting the term was not found in the twentieth century editions of the Oxford English Dictionary