small arm

American  

noun

1. Usually small arms. a firearm designed to be held in one or both hands while being fired: in the United States the term is applied to weapons of a caliber of up to one inch (2.5 centimeters).

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Other Word Forms

• small-armed adjective

Etymology

Origin of small arm

First recorded in 1680–90

Example Sentences

His was what law enforcement calls a ghost gun, or an “independently fabricated” small arm.

From New York Times

And an estimate by the firm Small Arm Analytics and Forecasting suggests that gun sales across the country rose 85.3 percent in March compared to the same month last year.

From Scientific American

The National Guard in Juarez, mostly made up of active-duty soldiers equipped with ballistic helmets, body armor and assault rifles, is identifiable by small arm bands emblazoned with the letters GN, for the Spanish words for National Guard.

From Reuters

The little girl, in red tights swollen by a water-logged diaper, is entwined in her father’s T-shirt, a small arm stretched across his neck as if in a final embrace.

From Reuters

Getty Images Music, a small arm of the gigantic photo agency, has a large catalogue of 30- and 60-second pieces of music bearing such uplifting and anodyne titles as “Feel the Vibe” or “Cable Car Morning.”

From Washington Post