armings

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...
   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)
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
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
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.