armor

[ahr-mer]

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

to cover or equip with armor or armor plate.

Also especially British, ar·mour.

Origin of armor

1250–1300; Middle English armo(u)r, armure < Anglo-French armour(e), armure Old French armëure < Latin armātūra armature; assimilated, in Middle English and Anglo-French, to nouns ending in -our -or²

Related formsar·mor·less, adjectivean·ti·ar·mor, adjectivesub·ar·mor, noun

Can be confusedamour armoire armor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for armoured

Contemporary Examples of armoured

The armoured plates on the undamaged places on bombers, cut down losses by something like 30 per cent.
Peter Worthington on Thinking Outside the Box
David Frum
May 17, 2013
French troops in armoured personnel carriers rolled through the streets of Kidal in northern Mali on Wednesday.
No Quick Fix For Mali: French Troops Can’t End Crisis
William Lloyd George
January 30, 2013

Historical Examples of armoured

There was no time to construct an armoured fleet; but they did not think they needed one.
Freeland
Theodor Hertzka
She gave to the cheese-box, or to the armoured turret, one after the other, three broadsides.
The Long Roll
Mary Johnston
Cruisers are divided into two classes: armoured and unarmoured.
How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves
W.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 Waves
W.H.G. Kingston
The Glasgow was not armoured, and could not contend with armoured vessels.
World's War Events, Vol. I
Various

British Dictionary definitions for armoured

armoured

US armored

adjective

having a protective covering, such as armour or bone

comprising units making use of armoured vehiclesan armoured brigade

(of glass) toughened

armor

noun

the US spelling of armour

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

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).

armor

mid-15c., from armor (n.). Related: Armored; armoring.

Idioms and Phrases with armoured

armor

see chink in one's armor; knight in shining armor.