alarum

[ uh-lar-uhm, uh-lahr- ]
See synonyms for alarum on Thesaurus.com
nounArchaic.
  1. an archaic variant of alarm.

Words Nearby alarum

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use alarum in a sentence

  • When the town bell rings the alarum members of the Gild are to go to the help of the Bailiffs only.

  • Suddenly the sharp wild clangor of the great alarum-bell of Famagosta crashed through the silence.

    The Royal Pawn of Venice | Mrs. Lawrence Turnbull
  • This will specially be the case when the alarum spring is long and fully wound.

    Life Movements in Plants | Sir Jagadis Chunder Bose
  • At moonrise, however, Grunter woke, punctual as an alarum clock.

    Lives of the Fur Folk | M. D. Haviland
  • Mrs. Pryor was, when once unwound, like an alarum, obliged to run off.

    Salome | Emma Marshall

British Dictionary definitions for alarum

alarum

/ (əˈlærəm, -ˈlɑːr-, -ˈlɛər-) /


noun
  1. archaic an alarm, esp a call to arms

  2. (used as a stage direction, esp in Elizabethan drama) a loud disturbance or conflict (esp in the phrase alarums and excursions)

Origin of alarum

1
C15: variant of alarm

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012