arming

Noun

arming (plural armings)

1. The act of supplying (oneself or others) with armor and (now especially) arms and ammunition in preparation for a conflict; the act of providing with the means of defense and attack.
   • The arming was now universal.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
   • Applying the conventions of war epic, this section of the novel would correspond to the arming of the hero, his donning of armor and assembling weapons in preparation for battle.2016, J. Fisher, Envisioning Disease, Gender, and War: Women's Narratives of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, Springer, →ISBN, page 59
   1. (especially, in-compounds) The affixing and securing on of armor.
      • arming buckle, arming doublet, arming garments (garments for anchoring armor to), arming harness, arming jacket, arming nail, arming point, arming straps (for securing armor)
      • […] two tunicles and a gambeson, each with a border of the arms of France; […] a quantity of aiguilletes and laces for arming; six bascinets; a gamboised thigh-piece, and an esquivalens of leather[…]1819, James Robinson Planché, A Cyclopaedia of Costume Or Dictionary of Dress, Including Notices of Contemporaneous Fashions on the Continent: A general history of costume in Europe, page 103
2. The act of supplying with the equipment, knowledge, authority, or other tools needed for a particular task.
   • The novelty largely consists in the arming of such subordinate officials of the statutory court with the new magic wand of the record book and of spoken English;[…]1956, Taslim Olawale Elias, The Nature of African Customary Law, Manchester University Press, →ISBN, page 275
   • The Party has always seen to the selection of its most active fighters propagandists and lecturers , and to the arming of them with knowledge. The theoretical level of our propaganda depends primarily on them.1965, Translations on International Communist Developments
3. The act of preparing a tool or a weapon for action; activation.
   • This insures the arming of the fuze when fired.1917, Handbook of the 3.2-inch Field Battery, with Instructions for Its Care, July 30, 1902, Revised June 23, 1908, page 60
   • If he didn't knock it down, the second plane would have a shot prior to the arming of the missile's warhead. Suddenly things didn't look so bad. Blakely pushed the microphone button.2010, T. Michael Fuson, Phil B. Hammond, Ruth E. Fuson, The Black Heart, T. Michael Fuson, →ISBN, page 419
4. A piece of tallow or soap put in the cavity and over the bottom of a sounding lead to pick up samples of the bottom of the sea.
   • the nature of the sea bed indicated by the arming in the cavity at the base[…]2011, H. G. Mowat, Captain Carteret and the Voyage of the Swallow
5. (in plural) One of the red dress cloths formerly hung fore and aft outside of a ship's upper works on holidays, or used as a visual screen during times of action.