vambrace

American  

[vam-breys] / ˈvæm breɪs /

noun

Armor.

1. a piece of plate armor for the forearm; a lower cannon.

2. plate armor for the arm, usually including upper and lower cannons and a couter.

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vambrace British  

/ ˈvæmbreɪs /

noun

1. a piece of armour used to protect the arm

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Other Word Forms

• vambraced adjective

Etymology

Origin of vambrace

1300–50; Middle English va ( u ) mbras < Anglo-French ( a ) vantbras, equivalent to avant- fore- ( avaunt ) + bras arm ( brace )

Example Sentences

And he held the bright-burnished vambrace that was upon his arm before her cold lips, and behold! a little mist was laid on it hardly to be seen.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sir Thomas Percy met with little better success, for his shield was split, his vambrace torn and he himself wounded slightly in the side.

From The White Company by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

In this we see the characteristic feature of the great elbow-cops, whose channelled and fluted edges overlapping vambrace and rerebrace become monstrous fan-like shapes in the brass of Richard Quartremayns, graven about 1460.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 6 "Armour Plates" to "Arundel, Earls of" by Various

Overcome with terror, Opechancanough surrendered his vambrace, bow, and arrows; and his dismayed followers threw down their arms.

From History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia by Campbell, Charles

But with a great effort he stood up, and the beaver fell from his helmet, for a lance hit him there, and another hit his left vambrace.

From The White Knight: Tirant Lo Blanc by Rudder, Robert S.