KJV Dictionary Definition: arm

arm

'ARM, n. L. armus, an arm, a shoulder, a wing; armus is directly from the Gr. a joint, it would seem to be formed from Gr. to fit.

1. The limb of the human body, which extends from the shoulder to the hand.

2. The branch of a tree, or the slender part of a machine, projecting from a trunk or axis. The limbs of animals are also sometimes called arms.

3. A narrow inlet of water from the sea.

4. Figuratively, power, might, strength; as the secular arm. In this sense the word is often used in the scriptures.

To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed. Isa. 53.

'ARM, v.t. L. armo; arma.

1. To furnish or equip with weapons of offense, or defense; as, to arm the militia.

2. To cover with a plate, or with whatever will add strength, force, or security; as, to arm the hilt of a sword.

3. To furnish with means of defense; to prepare for resistance; to fortify.

Arm yourselves with the same mind. 1Pet. 4.

'ARM, v.i. To provide with arms, weapons, or means of attack or resistance; to take arms; as, the nations arm for war.

This verb is not really intransitive in this use, but reciprocal, the pronoun being omitted. The nations arm - for, the nations arm themselves.

armed

'ARMED, pp.

1. Furnished with weapons of offense or defense; furnished with the means of security; fortified, in a moral sense.

2. In heraldry, armed is when the beaks, talons, horns, or teeth of beasts and birds of prey are of a different color from the rest of the body.

3. Capped and cased as the load stone; that is set in iron.

An armed ship is one which is taken into the service of government for a particular occasion, and armed like a ship of war.

armful

'ARMFUL, n. As much as the arms can hold.

arming

'ARMING, ppr. Equipping with arms; providing with the means of defense or attack; also, preparing for resistance in a moral sense.

armings

'ARMINGS, n. The same as waist-clothes, hung about a ship's upper works.

arms

'ARMS, n. plu. L. arma.

1. Weapons of offense, or armor for defense and protection of the body.

2. War; hostility.

Arms and the man I sing.

To be in arms, to be in a state of hostility, or in a military life.

To arms is a phrase which denotes a taking arms for war or hostility; particularly, a summoning to war.

To take arms, is to arm for attack or defense.

Bred to arms denotes that a person has been educated to the profession of a soldier.

3. The ensigns armorial of a family; consisting of figures and colors borne in shields, banners, &c., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.

4. In law, arms are any thing which a man takes in his hand in anger, to strike or assault another.

5. In botany, one of the seven species of fulcra or props of plants, enumerated by Linne and others. The different species of arms or armor, are prickles, thorns, forks and stings, which seem intended to protect the plants from injury by animals.

Sire arms, are such as may be charged with powder, as cannon, muskets, mortars, &c.

A stand of arms consists of a musket, bayonet, cartridge-box and belt, with a sword. But for common soldiers a sword is not necessary.

In falconry, arms are the legs of a hawk from the thigh to the foot.