arms

See also Arms

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)mz

Etymology 1

From Middle English, from Old English earm, from Germanic *armi- or *arma-, from Proto-Indo-European *ar-mo-, a suffixed form of *ar- (“to fit together”). Cognates to Avestan arma and Old Persian arma.

Noun

arms

1. Plural form of arm.

   We laid down on the snowbank and moved our arms up and down to make snow angels.

Etymology 2

13th Century, from Old French, Latin arma.

Noun

arms

1. (plural only; not used in singular form) Weapons.
   • 1883: Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     The next thing I laid hold of was a brace of pistols, and as I already had a powder horn and bullets, I felt myself well supplied with arms.

2. (heraldry) Synonym for coat of arms.

   The Duke's arms were a sable gryphon rampant on an argent field.

Translations

weapons

Arabic: أسلحة (ar) ('asliHa) m. pl. Chinese: Literary Chinese: 兵戈 (bīnggē) Mandarin: 武器 (zh) (wǔqì), 兵戈 (zh) (bīnggē) French: armes (fr) f. pl. German: Waffen (de) f. pl., Rüstung (de) f. Japanese: 武器 (ja) (ぶき, buki) Korean: 무기 (ko) (mugi) (武器 (ko))

Kurdish: چه‌ک Macedonian: оружје (mk) (óružje) n. (1), грб (mk) (grb) m. (2) Persian: سلاح (fa) Portuguese: armas (pt) f. pl. Romanian: arme (ro) f. pl. Russian: вооружения (ru) (vooružénija) n. pl., оружие (ru) (orúžije) n. Spanish: armamento (es) m. Vietnamese: vũ khí (vi) (武器 (vi))

Usage notes

• Capitalised, the word is often used in the names of pubs, taverns and the like.

Verb

arms

1. Third-person singular simple present indicative form of arm.

   If the Duke arms himself for war, the king will not sit by idly!

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: ready · ought · written · #444: arms · across · answer · early

Anagrams

• ASRM, Mars, mars, mas'r, MRSA, rams, SRAM

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Danish

Noun

arms c.

1. genitive singular indefinite of arm

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Gothic

Romanization

arms

1. Romanization of 𐌰𐍂𐌼𐍃

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Swedish

Noun

arms

1. indefinite possessive singular of arm