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• arm
  arm

  noun

  the upper limb of the human body, especially the part extending from the shoulder to the wrist.
• Arm
  Arm

  abbreviation

  Armenian.
• ARM
  ARM

  adjustable-rate mortgage.
• Arm.
  Arm.

  abbreviation

  Armenian.

arm

¹ American  

[ahrm] / ɑrm /

noun

1. the upper limb of the human body, especially the part extending from the shoulder to the wrist.

2. the upper limb from the shoulder to the elbow.

3. the forelimb of any vertebrate.

4. some part of an organism like or likened to an arm.

5. any armlike part or attachment, as the tone arm of a phonograph.

6. a covering for the arm, especially a sleeve of a garment.

   the arm of a coat.

7. an administrative or operational branch of an organization.

   A special arm of the government will investigate.

8. Nautical. any of the curved or bent pieces of an anchor, terminating in the flukes.

9. an armrest.

10. an inlet or cove.

    an arm of the sea.

11. a combat branch of the military service, as the infantry, cavalry, or field artillery.

12. power; might; strength; authority.

    the long arm of the law.

    Synonyms:

    reach

13. support or protection.

    He had always been there when I needed a strong arm to lean on or a word of counsel.

    May you take comfort knowing she is in God's loving arms.

14. Typography. either of the extensions to the right of the vertical line of a K or upward from the vertical stem of a Y.

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idioms

1. at arm's length, not on familiar or friendly terms; at a distance.

   He's the kind of person you pity but want to keep at arm's length.

2. twist someone's arm, to use force or coercion on someone.

3. with open arms, cordially; with warm hospitality.

   a country that receives immigrants with open arms.

4. arm in arm, with arms linked together or intertwined.

   They walked along arm in arm.

5. put the arm on,

   1. to solicit or borrow money from.

      She put the arm on me for a generous contribution.

   2. to use force or violence on; use strong-arm tactics on.

      If they don't cooperate, put the arm on them.

6. on the arm, free of charge; gratis.

   an investigation of policemen who ate lunch on the arm.

7. an arm and a leg, a great deal of money.

   Our night on the town cost us an arm and a leg.

8. in the arms of Morpheus, asleep.

   After a strenuous day, he was soon in the arms of Morpheus.

arm ² American  

[ahrm] / ɑrm /

noun

1. Usually arms weapons, especially firearms.

2. Heraldry. arms, the escutcheon, with its divisions, charges, and tinctures, and the other components forming an achievement that symbolizes and is reserved for a person, family, or corporate body; armorial bearings; coat of arms.

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verb (used without object)

• arms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• armed,
  past participle,  past
• arming
  present participle

1. to enter into a state of hostility or of readiness for war.

verb (used with object)

• arms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• armed,
  past participle,  past
• arming
  present participle

1. to equip with weapons.

   to arm the troops.

2. to activate (a fuze) so that it will explode the charge at the time desired.

   Antonyms:

   disarm, deactivate

3. to cover protectively.

4. to provide with whatever will add strength, force, or security; support; fortify.

   He was armed with statistics and facts.

5. to equip or prepare for any specific purpose or effective use.

   to arm a security system; to arm oneself with persuasive arguments.

   Synonyms:

   outfit, ready, equip

6. to prepare for action; make fit; ready.

idioms

1. bear arms,

   1. to carry weapons.

   2. to serve as a member of the military or of contending forces.

      His religious convictions kept him from bearing arms, but he served as an ambulance driver with the Red Cross.

2. up in arms, ready to take action; indignant; outraged.

   There is no need to get up in arms over such a trifle.

3. under arms, ready for battle; trained and equipped.

   The number of men under arms is no longer the decisive factor in warfare.

4. take up arms, to prepare for war; go to war.

   to take up arms against the enemy.

Arm ³ American  

abbreviation

1. Armenian.

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ARM ⁴ American  

1. adjustable-rate mortgage.

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Arm. ⁵ American  

abbreviation

1. Armenian.

2. Armorican.

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arm ¹ British  

/ ɑːm /

noun

1. (in man) either of the upper limbs from the shoulder to the wrist

2. the part of either of the upper limbs from the elbow to the wrist; forearm

3. 1. the corresponding limb of any other vertebrate

   2. an armlike appendage of some invertebrates

4. an object that covers or supports the human arm, esp the sleeve of a garment or the side of a chair, sofa, etc

5. anything considered to resemble an arm in appearance, position, or function, esp something that branches out from a central support or larger mass

   an arm of the sea

   the arm of a record player

6. an administrative subdivision of an organization

   an arm of the government

7. power; authority

   the arm of the law

8. any of the specialist combatant sections of a military force, such as cavalry, infantry, etc

9. nautical See yardarm

10. sport ball games ability to throw or pitch

    he has a good arm

11. informal a large amount of money

12. with arms linked

13. at a distance; away from familiarity with or subjection to another

14. informal to be prepared to make any sacrifice

15. sleeping

16. with great warmth and hospitality

    to welcome someone with open arms

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verb

1. archaic (tr) to walk arm in arm with

arm ² British  

/ ɑːm /

verb

1. to equip with weapons as a preparation for war

2. to provide (a person or thing) with something that strengthens, protects, or increases efficiency

   he armed himself against the cold

3. 1. to activate (a fuse) so that it will explode at the required time

   2. to prepare (an explosive device) for use by introducing a fuse or detonator

4. nautical to pack arming into (a sounding lead)

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noun

1. (usually plural) a weapon, esp a firearm

Arm. ³ British  

abbreviation

1. Armenia(n)

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ARM ⁴ British  

abbreviation

1. adjustable rate mortgage

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arm More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing arm

• at arm's length
• babe in arms
• forewarned is forearmed
• give one's eyeteeth (right arm)
• long arm of the law
• one-armed bandit
• put the arm on
• shot in the arm
• take up arms
• talk someone's arm off
• twist someone's arm
• up in arms
• with one arm tied behind
• with open arms

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• armed
  adjective
• armless
  adjective
• armlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• arming
  present
• armed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• arm
  simple
• arms
  simple
• have armed
  perfect
• has armed
  perfect
• am arming
  progressive
• are arming
  progressive
• is arming
  progressive
• have been arming
  perfect progressive
• has been arming
  perfect progressive

Past

• armed
  simple
• had armed
  perfect
• was arming
  progressive
• were arming
  progressive
• had been arming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will arm
  simple
• will have armed
  perfect
• will be arming
  progressive
• will have been arming
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of arm¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English earm; cognate with Gothic arms, Old Norse armr, Old Frisian erm, Dutch, Old Saxon, Old High German arm ( German Arm ) “arm,” Latin armus “shoulder” and arma (neuter plural) “tools, weapons”; akin to Serbo-Croatian rȁme, rȁmo “shoulder”; Sanskrit īrmá, Avestan arəma-, Old Prussian irmo “arm”; see arm ²

Origin of arm²

First recorded in 1200–50 for the verb; 1300–50 for the noun; Middle English verb armen, from Anglo-French, Old French armer, from Latin armāre “to arm, equip,” verbal derivative of arma (neuter plural) “tools, weapons”; Middle English noun armes (plural), from Old French armes, from Latin arma (neuter plural reinterpreted as a feminine singular); akin to arm ¹

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Explanation

An arm is a limb on the upper part of a person's body. You can call the front limb of any animal an arm, though they're more often called "legs." Starfish have five arms, while humans have two. The sleeves of your shirt are arms too, and an excellent baseball pitcher is said to have "an arm," meaning a powerful throw. When arm is a verb, it means "supply with weapons." These meanings have two different roots: an arm with a hand on the end comes from the Old English earm, while the weapon arm is rooted in the Latin arma, or "weapons."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arm Arm ARM Arm. arms armed arming

“This is one area we’re not quite confident in,” Pinkerton said as we watched the robot attempt to align a glass on the dishwasher’s prongs with motions suggestive of a claw-machine arm.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

The fund also ran the numbers on other, less-pessimistic scenarios, including one in which AI gives the global economy a major shot in the arm, without signaling which outcome it thinks is more likely.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

Hopefully when his right arm tightens up, he’ll step out of the box.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Riyadh on Thursday accused Iran of encouraging the escalation, saying it continued to arm and train the group.

From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026

But instead his arm slowly dropped to his side.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Where we shot, Snook’s Arm, was this bay called Brigus South.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026

Arm designs the brains or CPUs of microchips already used in hundreds of billions of phones, cars, smartwatches and gadgets across the globe.

From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026

Leopold noted that Arm mostly benefits from rising demand through its business selling royalties and licensing for its chip designs — though its first-ever in-house CPU optimized to support AI workloads could offer an advantage.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026

The two operate through different business models: x86 is used almost exclusively by Intel and AMD, while Arm historically has licensed its technology broadly to other chip designers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

Arm opened both eyes and looked thoroughly alarmed.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

At the time, “I didn’t even know what an ARM was,” Wagner told MarketWatch.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

Seeking to keep their monthly costs around the same as the rent they paid in Virginia, they decided to take out an adjustable-rate mortgage, or ARM, with a 6.85% rate.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 1, 2026

Federal regulations have since limited how much an ARM rate can increase within a set period of time.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026

Coherent and Credo Technology each fell 13%, Marvell fell 7.8%, ARM Holdings fell 6.7% and Intel lost 6.6%.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

If Powers had to eject while in flight, his instructions were first to flip a switch marked ARM and a second switch marked DESTRUCT.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

"It's a unique group. We're not all RAF, we're not all Fleet Air Arm. We've got all sorts of people. It's quite a family atmosphere."

From BBC ● Jan. 29, 2020

“Come on, Arm. Let’s go for a walk,” said Ear.

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

“I’m going to lie in bed and relive all the courses in the Starlight Room. You should try that, Arm. You have the best imagination. Arm?”

From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer

Arm. bonn boundary, limit, and boden, bod, a tuft or cluster of trees, by which a boundary or limit could be marked.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

Master in Arm. is d’yèr; of a master, d’yearn; pl., d’yeark.—515.

From Lavengro The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest by William Knapp

“Initially, the idea was just to have a huge warehouse with robot arms collecting lots of data autonomously,” co-founder Alexander Koch told me over a video call.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026

Ohtani turned to the Dodgers’ dugout, spread his arms wide and tossed his bat to the side.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026

Rather than relying primarily on massive jaws, megaraptorans had relatively narrow skulls, powerful arms, and huge curved claws that helped them seize their prey.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Czech arms maker CSG said it has become the largest shareholder in Canadian space technology company MDA Space as it seeks to venture into the space sector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

However, black-and-white tattoo roses cascade down her neck and arms, Carolina roses with delicate petals.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

The Israeli military said at the time that armed fighters had fired on the soldiers, who had "fired back at a suspect who observed" them, and that the details of the incident were under review.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

About the size of a large tiger and armed with enormous curved claws, the animal roamed what is now Britain approximately 120 million years ago.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

The group has repeatedly declared that Saudi airspace is a “theater for the operations of our armed forces.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026

Grynkewich elaborated what he called his "theory of victory" to defeat an armed attack on the alliance as worries surge over what Western officials call a "hybrid" campaign of sabotage and interference by Moscow.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Hereupon the president was contented the fort should be palisadoed, the ordnance mounted, his men armed and exercised.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

Civil rights organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union accused the department of attempting to intimidate the public by arming agents with another use-of-force option.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

American drone operators lack experience fixing and arming drones under fire, said the person present at the exercise.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

Some AI-safety campaigners—many of whom already worry that AI systems will escape human control and turn on their creators—argue that arming AI would only accelerate the danger.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Now turn the clock back to 27 February, as American and Israeli forces were preparing to strike, arming their aircraft, briefing their crews and programming targets for their missiles.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

As the European nations chose up sides, they were busily arming themselves.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman

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Related Words

• fortify
• load
• mobilize
• prepare
• protect
• provide
• strengthen
• supply

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