armory

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English armurie, also armorie and armerie,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman armurie, also spelled armoierie, which from the early 14th century meant armour and weapons, a storehouse for them, and a coat of arms.^[4] The heraldic sense goes back to Old French armoierie (“armorial bearings”) (recorded before 1304), later armoirie, formed from armoier (“to bear arms; to emblazon”) and -erie, from arme (“weapon”),^[5][6][7] from Latin arma (“weapons”).^[7][3] For the senses "arms" and "arsenal" the dictionaries differ: Etymonline and the MED compare armeurerie,^[3][2] Merriam-Webster derives them from armure (“armour”) with the suffix -ie, altered under the influence of armour,^[6] Klein sees a blend with armarie (“a place where arms are kept”), the source of ambry,^[7] and the Shorter Oxford and Hoad take them from the same French word, assimilated to armor.^[8][9] The OED gives the heraldic sense its own entry and notes that its forms overlap with those of armoury.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Armour and weapons collectively, war equipment: about 1330, in Arthour and Merlin;^[2][10] Etymonline dates it to about 1300.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word also meant the royal storehouse of weapons, a workshop where arms were made or repaired, the tackle of a ship, and in the plural armorial bearings.^[2] The sense "arsenal" is from the mid-15th century in Etymonline,^[3] and 1538 in the OED of 1989, which also records an obsolete sense "an armed force" from about 1400.^[10] The heraldic senses are later: heraldry, the art of blazoning coats of arms, about 1485 in G. Hay's Buke of Law of Armys, and armorial bearings in 1525, in Lord Berners's translation of Froissart; the latter is now archaic.^[5][8] The figurative sense, a store of resources, dates from 1615,^[10] and a place where arms are made is recorded as American from 1841.^[10] Johnson (1755) gave three senses, a place where arms are kept, armour, and "ensigns armorial", quoting Milton's "armory of God".^[11] In the United States an armory is also a building where military reserve units drill and have their headquarters.^[12][13]

Timeline

• c. 1330 – armour and weapons collectively.^[2][10]
• c. 1400 – an armed force (obsolete).^[10]
• c. 1485 – heraldry.^[5]
• 1525 – armorial bearings.^[5]
• 1538 – a place where arms are kept, an arsenal.^[10] Etymonline dates this sense to the mid-15th century.^[3]
• 1615 – a store of resources, figuratively.^[10]
• 1841 – a place where arms are made, in the US.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place where weapons are stored; an arsenal.^[12][13][6]
2. (US) A building used by a military reserve unit, such as the National Guard, for training and as headquarters.^[12][13]
3. (US) A factory where weapons are made.^[12][10]
4. A collection of weapons; figuratively, a stock of resources to draw on: She had a whole armory of excuses.^[6][13][8]
5. Heraldry, the art of blazoning coats of arms.^[6][5][8]
6. (archaic) Armorial bearings; a coat of arms.^[5][8]
7. (archaic) Armor and weapons.^[6][8]

Related words

• armorer
• armorial
• armor
• arms
• ambry
• army

Usage notes

Armory is the American spelling;^[13][3] British English writes armoury,^[13][3] and Merriam-Webster gives armoury as the British form of the heraldic word as well.^[6] In Canada armouries, in the plural, is a building used for training and as headquarters by a reserve unit.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
13. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins