- (formal) weapons, especially as used by the army, navy, etc.
- arms and ammunition
- The UN imposed an arms embargo on the country.
- He's the world's most notorious arms dealer.
- Police officers in the UK do not usually carry arms.
- They banned arms sales to countries with poor human rights records.
- He was trying to rebuild the country's nuclear arms programme.
Extra ExamplesTopics War and conflictb2- He was accused of supplying arms to terrorists.
- The country's economic growth could fuel an arms build-up.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- nuclear
- small
- bear
- carry
- call somebody to
- …
- build-up
- race
- control
- …
- under arms
- (also coat of arms)a design or a shield that is a special symbol of a family, city or other organization
- the King’s Arms (= used as the name of a pub)
- The royal arms appear on the door of the King's carriage.
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French armes, from Latin arma.
Idioms
See arms in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee arms in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbear arms
- (old use) to be a soldier; to fight
be under arms
- (formal) to have weapons and be ready to fight in a war
- It was the first ‘modern’ war, with more than a million men under arms.
a call to arms
- a strong request to fight in the army; a strong request to defend something or get ready for a fight about something
- A leading environmentalist has issued a call to arms to companies and the public to do more about plastic waste.
- The president's speech was a call to arms to restore the vitality of the American dream.
lay down your arms
- (formal) to stop fighting
- The government called on the terrorists to lay down their arms.
present arms
- (of soldiers) to hold a rifle straight upwards in front of the body as a mark of respect
take up arms (against somebody)
- (formal) to prepare to fight
- He encouraged his supporters to take up arms against the state.
- The people took up arms to defend their country.
(be) up in arms (about/over something)
- (informal) (of a group of people) to be very angry about something and ready to protest strongly about it
Check pronunciation:
arms