Talk:iron out

Another usage -- noir, humorous

In noir parlance, and perhaps also actually used by gangsters, to "iron out" means to kill [a person] with a gun.

This is figurative: the "iron" is the gun, and the person is flattened.

Rex Stout, "Death of a Doxy" Bantam Books, by arrangement with Viking Press, 1967, paperback, →ISBN, page 134:

"I admit it was still in my gizzard that it was pure luck that she hadn't been ironed out while I was standing right by her." (Archie was supposed to be acting as a bodyguard.)

I think I've seen this in other novels, too, and I'm pretty sure this usage has been in gangster movies. I doubt that Rex Stout made it up. A "dated" tag would probably be appropriate.

Addendum: No direct lick to the ISBN, but google books finds it.