"iron hand" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "iron hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "iron hand (plural iron hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1975 December 20, “\"Cuckoo's Nest\" Still a Valid Statement of the Non-conformist's Struggles”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 25, page 13:",
          "text": "The mental hospital setting is merely a symbol for the world, and in it the powers that be rule with an iron hand.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, page 41:",
          "text": "Reverend Harris ran Clerkebury with an iron hand and an abiding sense of fairness.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Firmness, inflexibility, sternness."
      ],
      "id": "en-iron_hand-en-noun-zCSuOC4n",
      "links": [
        [
          "Firmness",
          "firmness"
        ],
        [
          "inflexibility",
          "inflexibility"
        ],
        [
          "sternness",
          "sternness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) Firmness, inflexibility, sternness."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "iron fist"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "iron hand"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "iron hands",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "iron hand (plural iron hands)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "iron fist"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1975 December 20, “\"Cuckoo's Nest\" Still a Valid Statement of the Non-conformist's Struggles”, in Gay Community News, volume 3, number 25, page 13:",
          "text": "The mental hospital setting is merely a symbol for the world, and in it the powers that be rule with an iron hand.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, page 41:",
          "text": "Reverend Harris ran Clerkebury with an iron hand and an abiding sense of fairness.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Firmness, inflexibility, sternness."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Firmness",
          "firmness"
        ],
        [
          "inflexibility",
          "inflexibility"
        ],
        [
          "sternness",
          "sternness"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figuratively) Firmness, inflexibility, sternness."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "iron hand"
}