Commonly in pl. Arms. Forms: 3–7 armes (5 -is, -ys), 6– arms, 8– arm. [a. F. armes, Pr. armas:—L. arma (no sing.) ‘arms, fittings, tackle, gear’; from root ar- to fit, join. The sing. arm is late and rarely used.]
I. pl. Defensive and offensive outfit for war, things used in fighting.
1. Defensive covering or appendages for the body; armor, mail. Now only poet.
1340. Ayenb., 165. Þe cloþinge ne makeþ naȝt þane monek, ne þe armes þane knyȝt.
1382. Wyclif, Eph. vi. 11. Clothe ȝou with the armer [v.r. armes] of God.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 188. Armed in Stele In armes goode and profitable.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. ii. 114. Clap their female ioints In stiffe vnwieldie Armes.
1718. Pope, Iliad, II. 200. Once more refulgent shine in brazen arms.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 908. These arm’d him in blue arms.
2. Instruments of offence used in war; weapons. Fire-arms: those for which gunpowder is used, such as guns and pistols, as opposed to swords, spears or bows. Small-arms: those not requiring carriages, as opposed to artillery. Stand of arms: a complete set for one soldier.
a. 1300. K. Horn, 576. Þin armes he haþ and scheld To fiȝte wiþ upon þe feld.
1382. Wyclif, John xviii. 3. He cam with lanternis, and brondis, and armys.
1484. Caxton, Ordre Chyv., viii. 61 b. He ought not to trust in his armes, ne in his strengthe.
1650. T. B., Worcester’s Apophth., 97. They were come to search his house for Armes.
1710. Lond. Gaz., mmmmdccviii/2. The remaining 12,500 Arms not already contracted for. Ibid., mmmmdccii/2. Powder, small Ball, and small Arms.
1777. Marion, in Harper’s Mag., Sept. (1883), 546/1. To parade with their side arms.
1794. Trusler, Eng. Synon., I. 37. By arms, we understand those instruments of offence generally made use of in war; such as fire-arms, swords, &c. By weapons, we more particularly mean instruments of other kinds (exclusive of fire-arms), made use of as offensive, on special occasions.
1870. Instr. Musketry, 7. Each lesson in cleaning arms … to occupy half an hour.
b. sing. A particular species of weapon; (cf. a wine, a sugar, an ash).
1861. Sir W. Fairbairn, Addr. Brit. Assoc. A rifled small arm and gun which have never been surpassed.
1877. World, No. 178. 11. An extraordinarily well-balanced arm, and highly effective.
3. Man of arms, later man-at-arms: a. one practised in war, a warrior, soldier; b. a fully armed knight. Man-in-arms: an armed man.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 2. He is a noble man of armes.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., I. xi. The proprietes that men of armes ought to haue.
c. 1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., III. i. I have a hundred thousand men-in-arms.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. iv. 42. And make him, naked, foyle a man at Armes.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, V. ii. 141. The Man at Armes is armed complete. Ibid. Men at Armes are commonly men of title and qualitie.
1611. Bible, Transl. Pref., 2. For the loue that he bare unto peace … iudged to be no man at armes.
1670. Cotton, Espernon, III. XI. 580. Worth the pains, or notice of men of Arms.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, IV. 57. The men-at-arms drew their swords and rushed on him.
4. In many phrases. a. To arms! (formerly [OFr.] as armes! at arms!): take to your arms, be ready for fight! b. In arms: armed, furnished with weapons, sword in hand, prepared to fight; as to rise in arms (of a number); up in arms, in active readiness to fight, actively engaged in struggle or rebellion; also fig. c. To take up arms: to arm oneself, rise in hostility defensive or offensive, to draw the sword; also fig. To bear arms: to serve as a soldier, do military service, fight. To turn one’s arms against: to make war upon, attack. To lay down arms: to surrender, cease hostilities, give up the struggle.
a. c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. 162. Richard, ‘has armes!’ did crie.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2933. ‘Asarmes!’ þanne cride Rolond, ‘asarmes, euerechon!’
c. 1450. Merlin, xxii. 406. And ronne to armes moo than xxvii squyers.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, xiii. 231. Anon, ‘As Armez,’ they gonnen to crie.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. xi. (1634), 22. ‘Lords, at arms! for here be your enemies at your hand.’
1711. Pope, Rape Lock, V. 37. To arms! to arms! the fierce Virago cries.
1842. Macaulay, Horatius, xx. To arms! To arms! Sir Consul.
b. 1503. Hawes, Examp. Virtue, vii. 97. Whan in armes … He all his ennemyes dyd abiecte.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 636. Heere comes Hector in Armes. Ibid. (1593), 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 93. Hating thee, and rising vp in armes.
1611. Bible, 1 Macc. xii. 27. Ionathan commaunded his men … to be in armes.
1704. Swift, T. Tub, Apol. All the men of wit … were immediately up in Arms.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xiv. In arms the huts and hamlets rise.
1868. Digby’s Voy. Medit., Pref. 32. As soon as the facts came to the knowledge of the Admiralty … Buckingham’s Secretary was up in arms.
c. 1297. R. Glouc., 63. Alle þat armes bere Aȝen þe king.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Massac. Paris, III. i. The Guise hath taken arms against the King.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. i. 59. To take Armes against a Sea of troubles.
1769. Robertson, Charles V., V. III. 329. Obliged to take arms in self-defence. Ibid., V. IV. 410. He turned his arms against Naples.
1795. Sewell, Hist. Quakers, I. Pref. 7. For bearing arms and resisting the wicked by fighting.
1831. Brewster, Newton (1855), II. xiv. 2. Newton took up arms in his own cause.
1848. St. John, Fr. Rev., 245. Lay down your arms.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 180. Albuquerque turned his arms towards Ormuz.
5. Also in the mod. phrases: Under arms (of troops); bearing arms; standing or marching arms in hand, in battle array; so, to lie upon their arms. Stand to your arms! i.e., in order of battle with arms presented. For the various military words of command, Order arms, Port arms, Present arms, Shoulder arms, Slope arms, Trail arms, etc., see the respective verbs.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 537. Thus, under heavy Arms, the Youth of Rome Their long laborious Marches overcome.
1710. Lond. Gaz., mmmmdccxv/2. Obliged to halt and lye all Night on their Arms.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1783), II. 265. In a moment the troops were under arms.
1847. Gleig, Waterloo, 275. The Anglo-Belgian army lay on its arms in the field which its valour had won. Ibid., 108. No cry of ‘Stand to your arms!’ or other notices expressive of danger near at hand.
a. 1850. Rossetti, Dante & Circle (1874), I. 8. The whole city got under arms.
II. Elliptical senses. (Only pl. exc. in 9.)
6. The exercise or employment of arms; fighting, war, active hostilities. † To bid arms (obs.): to offer battle. To carry arms: to wage war. To appeal to arms: see APPEAL v. 6 b.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 1. Fiers god of armes Mars the rede.
c. 1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., II. ii. An hundred Kings, by scores, will bid him arms.
1662. Dryden, Astræa Redux, 4. Worser far Than arms, a sullen interval of war.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 2, ¶ 3. It is a barbarous Way to extend Dominion by Arms.
1720. Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., I. IV. 236. Her Arms were carried abroad.
1780. Harris, Philol. Enq. (1841), 478. Success in arms.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 4. A cessation of arms having been agreed on.
1847. Gleig, Waterloo, 297. There shall be a suspension of Arms.
7. The practice or profession of arms, service as a soldier, the military profession.
c. 1450. Lonelich, Grail, lii. 1077. Whanne to harmes that he cam, He wax a worthy chevalrows man.
1475. Caxton, Jason, 78 b. He accorded … and putte hym anone to armes. Ibid. (1489), Faytes of Armes, I. i. The right honorable offyce of armes & of chyualrye.
1591. Shaks., 1 Hen. VI., II. i. 43. Since first I follow’d Armes.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. iv. 1. Young knight, what euer that dost armes professe.
1814. Scott, Wav., vi. To take up the profession of arms.
8. Deeds or feats of arms. Now only poet.; deeds, feats, etc., being expressed in prose.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 144. I wol now synge yif I kan The Armes and also the man That first cam of Troy Contree.
1485. Caxton, Paris & V. (1868), 35. [They] made grete chyualryes & dyd grete armes.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, I. 1. Arms the man I sing, who, forced by fate [etc.].
[1711. Addison, Spect., No. 309, ¶ 13. Contentions at the Race, and in Feats of Arms.]
b. phr. A passage of (or at) arms: an exchange of blows by armed opponents, an encounter; also fig. a controversial bout. An assault of (or at) arms: an attack made upon each other by two fencers, etc., as an exercise or trial of skill; and, in a wider sense, a display of hand-to-hand military exercises. See PASSAGE, ASSAULT.
1824. Trevelyan, in Macaulay’s Life, I. iii. 136. His connection with the Review was that passage of arms.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. v. (1876), 269. An account of his passage-at-arms with the only one of his school-fellows whom he ever had to encounter in this manner.
9. sing. and pl. Each kind of troops of which an army is composed: the infantry, cavalry, artillery and engineers; originally, the two first. Of all arms: of every description of troops. (So in Fr.)
1798. Craig, in Wellesley, Desp. (1877), 605. Abounding in cavalry, and acting in a country the most favourable to that arm.
1829. Southey, Inscr., xxx. Wks. III. 142. Nor force of either arm of war, nor art of skilled artillerist.
1842. Alison, Hist. Eur., X. lxvi. § 69. 182. The supposition that ‘the English had no heavy artillery’;… the English general had already secured that vital arm.
1847. Gleig, Waterloo, 101. They numbered about 12,000 of all arms.
1879. in Cassell’s Techn. Educ., III. 267. The three so-called ‘arms’ of the service; the infantry, the cavalry, and the artillery.
III. Transf. and fig. senses. (Usually pl.)
10. in Law. (See quot.)
1641. Termes de la Ley, 51. Arms, in the understanding of the Law, is extended to any thing that a man, in his anger or fury, takes into his hand to cast at, or strike another. [So in Blount, Tomlins, etc.]
11. Instruments of defence or offence possessed by animals; the ARMATURE or ARMOUR of plants.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 121, ¶ 3. That great Variety of Arms with which Nature has differently fortified the Bodies of … Animals, such as Claws, Hoofs, and Horns.
12. fig. (from 2) of things immaterial.
a. 1230. Ancr. R., 60. Eien beoð … te ereste armes of lecheries pricches.
1340. Ayenb., 170. Þe armes of penonce, huerby he may ouercome his y-uo.
1616. Brent, Counc. Trent (1629), 756. Which would bee as much as to put Armes into the hands of the heretikes.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. iii. (1686), 7. Unable to wield the intellectual arms of reason.
1872. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xvii. 90. And had himself fought, perhaps with temporal, certainly with spiritual arms.
b. sing.
1762. Gibbon, Misc. Wks. (1814), V. 259. He employed every arm both of argument and pleasantry.
† c. (from 1) collect. as sing. ‘Armour.’ Obs.
1646. H. Lawrence, Comm. & Warre w. Angels, 141. An armes fitted on purpose.
13. (sing.) Protection, guard. [Perh. from ARM v.1]
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1601. For I woll have no wite To bring in prease, that myht done him harme, Or him diseasen, for my better arme.
IV. Heraldic Arms.
14. Heraldic insignia or devices, borne originally on the shields of fully armed knights or barons, to distinguish them in battle (hence properly called ARMORIAL bearings), which subsequently became hereditary, and are the property of their families. Also the similar ensigns of countries, corporations, trading companies, etc.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron., 8. Þe lond lese þe armes, changed is þe scheld.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1331. Al these armes that ther weren That they thus on her cote beren.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of Armes, IV. xv. 274. The lordes in a bataylle myght be knowen by his armes.
a. 1553. Udall, Roister D., III. iv. By the armes of Caleys, it is none of myne.
1587. Fleming, Contn. Holinshed, III. 369/2. The heralds of armes dooing him such honour.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, B iij. His armes shalbe set on his hearse.
1601. Cornwallyes, Ess., XXV. They can find Titles as fast as Heralds devise Armes.
1611. Guillim, Heraldry, I. iii. 2. Armes are tokens or resemblances signifying some act or quality of the bearer.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., II. iv. § 40. I. 313. The ancient Armes were assigned to Oxford about this time.
1787. Porny, Heraldry, 243. Three lions passant gardant … the Royal Arms of England.
1794. Trusler, Eng. Synon., II. 31. Heraldry is the science of arms.
1864. Boutell, Hist. Heraldry, xiv. 136. The lawful holder of Arms has in them a true estate in fee.
b. collective as sing.
c. 1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., II. ii. 1035. What is thine arms?
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 68. This the reason why the Romans gave such an arms.
15. Hence the phrases, In arms with: quartered with. † To give arms (obs.): to show or exhibit armorial bearings. Also to bear arms; to grant or assign arms. Coat of arms: (see ARMOUR sb. 10.) College of Arms: the Heralds’ College, by which armorial bearings are granted. King at Arms: a Chief Herald.
1466. Test. Ebor. (1855), II. 278. With all my doghtirs in armes with thair husbandis apon my right syde, and with all my sones and thair wifes in armes apon my left side.
c. 1590. Marlowe, 2nd Pt. Tamburl., III. v. Now you are a King, you must give arms.
1599. Greene, George a Gr. (1861), 259. We are gentlemen. Geo. Why, sir, So may I, sir, although I give no arms.
1642. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon., 489. Advanced to the Title of a Lord or Baron; permitted to beare Arms.
1647. R. Stapylton, Juvenal, 250, note. A coate of Armes cut in a pretious Sardonix stone.
a. 1649. Drumm. of Hawth., Hist. Jas. V., Wks. 81. Lyon king of arms is directed to him, to acquaint him with their proceedings.
1671. F. Philipps, Reg. Necess., 468. Mr. William Dugdale, Norroy King at Armes.
1808. Scott, Marm., IV. vii. Sir David Lindesay of the Mount, Lord Lion king-at-arms.
V. Comb. and Attrib. in sense I, as arms-bearing, arm-chest, -rack; in sense IV, as arms-painter.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, V. xix. (1840), 274. Employ all their arms-bearing people in their martial service.
1678. Butler, Hud., III. i. 142. Upon their sharing In any prosperous arms-bearing.
1827. Gentl. Mag., XCVII. II. 51. One Lilly an armes-painter and pedigree maker.
1823. Byron, Island, II. xx. As when the arm-chest held its brighter trust.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 337. To prevent the arm-racks being damaged.
