iron lung

Definitions

1. A pneumonic device for assisted breathing.
2. A bung; a bribe.
   Cockney, slang

Equivalents

Examples

“To a polio victim who can no longer breathe⟳ for himself nothing is more disheartening than the thought of spending every hour of his life flat on his back in an iron⟳ lung.”

“Most criminal cases, when I was practising, were paid for by SLAB, which kept a vice-like grip on the purse strings, paying a pittance no self-respecting plumber would get⟳ out of bed for, so an iron⟳ lung (bung) was the order⟳ of the day when dealing with the professionals of the underworld.”

CEFR level