Arm

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ɑːm/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(r)m
• US IPA: /ɑɹm/

From Middle English, from Old English earm, from Proto-Germanic *armaz ("arm"), from Proto-Indo-European *arəm- ("arm"), a suffixed form of *ar- ("to fit together").

Full definition of arm

Noun

1. The portion of the upper human appendage, from the shoulder to the wrist and sometimes including the hand.
• 1963, Margery Allingham, The China Governess Chapter 19, When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. He had him gripped firmly by the arm, since he felt it was not safe to let him loose, and he had no immediate idea what to do with him.
2. She stood with her right arm extended and her palm forward to indicate “Stop!”
3. (anatomy) The extended portion of the upper limb, from the shoulder to the elbow.
   The arm and forearm are parts of the upper limb in the human body.
4. A limb, or locomotive or prehensile organ, of an invertebrate animal.the arms of an octopus
5. A long, narrow, more or less rigid part of an object extending from the main part or centre of the object, such as the arm of an armchair, a crane, a pair of spectacles or a pair of compasses.
   The robot arm reached out and placed the part on the assembly line.
6. A bay or inlet off a main body of water.
   Shelburne Bay is an arm of Lake Champlain.
7. A branch of an organization.
   the cavalry arm of the military service
8. (figurative) Power; might; strength; support.the arm of the lawthe secular arm
• Bible, Isa. lii. 1To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

Derived terms

Verb

1. To take by the arm; to take up in one's arms.
• ShakespeareAnd make him with our pikes and partisans
  A grave: come, arm him.
• Two N. KinsArm your prize;
  I know you will not lose him.
2. To supply with arms or limbs.
• Beaumont and FletcherHis shoulders broad and strong,
  Armed long and round.

From Middle English arm ("poor, wretched"), from Old English earm ("poor, miserable, pitiful, wretched"), from Proto-Germanic *armaz ("poor"), from Proto-Indo-European *erm- ("poor, ill").

Adjective

1. (UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) Poor; lacking in riches or wealth.
2. (UK dialectal, chiefly Scotland) To be pitied; pitiful; wretched.

Derived terms

• armth

Middle English, from Old French arme, from Latin arma ("weapons"), from Proto-Indo-European *ar-mo-, a suffixed form of *ar- ("to fit together"), hence ultimately cognate with etymology 1.

Noun

1. (usually used in the plural) A weapon.
2. (in the plural) heraldic bearings or insignia

Synonyms

Derived terms

Verb

1. To supply with armour or (later especially) weapons.
2. To prepare a tool or a weapon for action; to activate.Remember to arm an alarm system.
3. To cover or furnish with a plate, or with whatever will add strength, force, security, or efficiency.to arm the hit of a sword; to arm a hook in angling
4. (figurative) To furnish with means of defence; to prepare for resistance; to fortify, in a moral sense.
• Bible, 1 Peter iv. 1Arm yourselves ... with the same mind.
5. To fit (a magnet) with an armature.

Derived terms

• arm to the teeth

Anagrams

• mar, Mar, Mar., MAR
• MRA
• ram, Ram, RAM
• RMA