a. [f. L. ferre-us (f. ferrum iron) + -OUS.]
1. Of or pertaining to iron; consisting of or containing iron.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. iii. 67. An inanimate kinde of Loadstone, veined here and there with a few magneticall and ferreous lines. Ibid. (ed. 1), 69. It carried away all ferreous and earthy parts.
1842–3. Grove, Corr. Phys. Forces (1874), 129. A magnet being itself moved will move other ferreous bodies; these will acquire a static condition of equilibrium, and be again moved when the magnet is also moved.
2. Hard as iron; iron like. rare.
1822. Blackw. Mag., XII., Sept., 280/1. Nothing is too large for their deglutition, nothing too tough and ferreous for their digestion.
3. Entom. ‘Of a metallic-grey hue, like that of polished iron’ (Cent. Dict.).
