[f. ARM v.1]
1. lit. Furnished with arms or armor; fully equipped for war. In intensive phr. ‘Armed to the teeth.’ In Armed demonstration, neutrality, it refers to the persons or power making the demonstration or remaining neutral.
1297. R. Glouc., 386. Þe knyȝtes wel yarmed wende hem out anon.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 96. Armyt clenly at fut and hand.
c. 1425. Seven Sages (P.), 1417. Armyd men by nyght thare ȝede.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 12. A faithlesse Sarazin, all armde to point.
1695. Anc. Const. Eng., 37. Who had the armed Force of the Nation on his side.
1695. Lond. Gaz., mmmcii/3. Half Galleys and other Armed Boats.
1776. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. 323. The caprice of an armed multitude.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 329. An armed ship of ten guns.
c. 1803. Foster, Corr., 42 (1846), I. 242. Social decorum is a kind of armed neutrality.
1849. Cobden, Speeches, 12. Is there any reason why we should be armed to the teeth.
1864. Bramwell, in Morn. Star, 12 Jan. By ‘armed,’ I suppose it would be meant ordinarily that she had cannon, but if she had a fighting crew, muskets, pistols, powder, shot, cutlasses, and boarding appliances, she might be well said to be equipped for warlike purposes, though not armed.
1876. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 7. 150. An armed demonstration drove them in flight over sea.
2. transf. and fig. a. Of persons: Furnished, fortified, provided, ready.
c. 1585. Pilkington, Wks. (1841), 444. A man forewarned is half armed.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 22. If you are arm’d to doe, as sworne to do.
1737. Pope, Hor. Epist., I. i. 94. He’s armed without that’s innocent within.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., I. ix. A Defender of Property … armed with the terrors of the law.
b. Of animals: Furnished with horns, teeth, etc., or protected by natural mail.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 102. The Lyons armed Iawes. Ibid. (1605), Macb., III. iv. 101. The arm’d Rhinoceros, or th’ Hircan Tiger.
1803. G. Shaw, Zool., IV. 373. Armed Chætodon … Native of the Indian seas.
1859. Owen, Classif. Mamm., 76. Formidably armed jaws.
c. Of plants: Furnished with thorns, prickles, etc.
1875. Buckland, Log-Bk., 45. A seed literally armed with formidable claws.
d. Of things: Furnished, plated, cased, tipped, with anything that gives strength or efficiency, or fits for a purpose. Armed eye: one provided with a magnifying glass.
1598. Barret, Theor. Warres, I. i. 4. The strength of the Battaile is the armed Pike.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. vii. 83. Wounded steeds … Yerke out their armed heeles at their dead masters.
1711. Pope, Rape Lock, II. 120. Tho’ stiff with hoops, and armed with ribs of whale.
1816. Coleridge, Lay Serm., 319. The fixed stars, which appear of the same size to the naked as to the armed eye.
1853. De Quincey, Sp. Mil. Nun, § 6. 12. With her armed finger (ay, by the way, I forgot the thimble).
1858. J. Mansfield, in Merc. Mar. Mag., V. 20. The armed lead would have shown him that … he was deviating from his … course.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., xvi. 261. The lead is armed, that is to say, the bottom of the weight … is covered with tallow.
3. Of a magnet: Furnished with an armature.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., III. 176. We took a very good arm’d Loadstone.
1730. Savery, in Phil. Trans., XXXVI. 309. That an armed Loadstone can lift more.
1831. Brewster, Optics, x. 93. An armed natural loadstone.
4. Adorned with heraldic devices; blazoned.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 183. Tombes … Of armede alabaustre.
5. Her. Having the claws or talons painted of a different tincture from that of the adjoining parts. Also, represented with claws, teeth, horns, etc.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 44. A Lyon Passante, Gules, armed, and langued d’Azure.
1661. Morgan, Sph. Gentry, I. v. 59. Membred doth signify the legs, and Armed doth imploy the Bill and Claws.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. ii. 259. Armed, as Heraulds cant, and langued, Or, as the Vulgar say, sharp fanged.
1763. Brit. Mag., IV. 238. An eagle … sable, armed and membered, or.
1866. Cussans, Gram. Heraldry, 29. A lion is armed of its teeth and claws, and ‘langued’ of its tongue.
