armor
[ahr-mer]
- any covering worn as a defense against weapons.
- a suit of armor.
- a metallic sheathing or protective covering, especially metal plates, used on warships, armored vehicles, airplanes, and fortifications.
- mechanized units of military forces, as armored divisions.
- Also called armament. any protective covering, as on certain animals, insects, or plants.
- any quality, characteristic, situation, or thing that serves as protection: A chilling courtesy was his only armor.
- the outer, protective wrapping of metal, usually fine, braided steel wires, on a cable.
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- to cover or equip with armor or armor plate.
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Also especially British, ar·mour.
Origin of armor
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for armoured
Contemporary Examples
The armoured plates on the undamaged places on bombers, cut down losses by something like 30 per cent.
French troops in armoured personnel carriers rolled through the streets of Kidal in northern Mali on Wednesday.
Historical Examples
There was no time to construct an armoured fleet; but they did not think they needed one.
FreelandTheodor Hertzka
She gave to the cheese-box, or to the armoured turret, one after the other, three broadsides.
The Long RollMary Johnston
Cruisers are divided into two classes: armoured and unarmoured.
How Britannia Came to Rule the WavesW.H.G. Kingston
In 1861, ships of the type of the Minotaur were built, armoured from stem to stern.
How Britannia Came to Rule the WavesW.H.G. Kingston
The Glasgow was not armoured, and could not contend with armoured vessels.
World's War Events, Vol. IVarious
armoured
US armored
- having a protective covering, such as armour or bone
- comprising units making use of armoured vehiclesan armoured brigade
- (of glass) toughened
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armor
- the US spelling of armour
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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
Word Origin and History for armoured
armor
n.
c.1300, "mail, defensive covering worn in combat," also "means of protection," from Old French armeure "weapons, armor" (12c.), from Latin armatura "arms, equipment," from arma "arms, gear" (see arm (n.2)). Figurative use from mid-14c.
Meaning "military equipment generally," especially siege engines, is late 14c. The word might have died with jousting if not for late 19c. transference to metal-shielded machinery beginning with U.S. Civil War ironclads (first attested in this sense in an 1855 report from the U.S. Congressional Committee on Naval Affairs).
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armor
v.
mid-15c., from armor (n.). Related: Armored; armoring.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with armoured
armor
see chink in one's armor; knight in shining armor.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.