Used to refer to a sailboat which has lost all speed because it is headed into (or close enough to) the wind.
A sailboat with its bow pointed directly into the wind, preventing the sails from filling properly so that the boat can move. It can be very difficult to get a boat that is in irons back under sail. An old square rigger could take hours to get underway again.
When a boat's bow is in the wind's eye and, having lost all headway, will not go off on either tack
A condition in which some sails are full of wind and some are aback, rendering a ship unmanageable.
Stuck head-to-wind with sails luffing and no steerage In the lee-To leeward of a wind-blocking object, as "in the lee" of the island (for a protected anchorage)
having turned onto the wind or lost the wind, stuck and unable to make headway.
A vessel is said to be in irons when caught head to wind and unable to pay off on either tack.