armor

Forms

• armour (UK)

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old French armure, armeüre, weapons, armour,^[2][3][4] from Latin armātūra, arms, equipment,^[2][3][5] from armō, to arm, from arma, weapons, gear (see arm).^[2][5] armature is a doublet.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Mail, a defensive covering worn in combat: probably before 1300 in Barnhart, about 1300 in Etymonline, also any means of protection.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Figurative use is from the mid-14th century,^[3] and military equipment in general, especially siege engines, from the late 14th century.^[3] The protective covering of an animal, such as scales or a shell, is from about 1600.^[3] Etymonline remarks that the word might have died with jousting if not for its 19th-century transfer to metal-plated fighting machines, beginning with the ironclads of the American Civil War, first in an 1855 report to Congress.^[3] Tanks and armoured vehicles are collectively armor in American military use.^[6][7] The verb, to cover with armour, is from the mid-15th century.^[3][4] Armor is the American spelling of British armour.^[7]

Timeline

• before 1300 – mail, armour.^[2]
• mid-14th century – figurative use.^[3]
• mid-15th century – to armor (verb).^[3]
• c. 1600 – an animal's protective covering.^[3]
• 1855 – armour plate on ships.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A protective covering of metal or other hard material worn in fighting, such as mail.
2. A tough protective covering, such as the scales of an animal or the metal plating of a vehicle.
3. Armoured vehicles, such as tanks, collectively.

Verb

1. To cover with armour.

Word family

• armorless
• antiarmor
• armorbearer
• armorial
• armorist
• armor-piercing
• scale armor
• plate armor

Related words

• arm
• armament
• armure
• armour
• army
• armature
• armada

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins