armoury, -ory
(ˈɑːmərɪ)
Forms: 4 armurie, 5–6 armery, armorye, -orie, -ary, 6– armory, armoury.
[Perh. orig. a. OF. armoierie, armoirie. But from the earliest period treated as a derivative of armour n., and spelt like it armurie, armery, armory, armoury. With senses 3–5, cf. also OF. armeurerie, now armurerie, the office or store of the armeurier, arsenal (in which sense Godefroy has also armoirie). By some, in 16th c., referred to L. armārium (see ambry), and spelt armary. As armour was, in 16th c., often written armor, the spelling armory was common down to the present century. Cf. armory.]
1. Armour collectively. arch.
| 1330 R. Brunne 194 If I may be auaile of hors or amurie. 1400 Griffith in Ellis Orig. Lett. ii. 2. I. 6, I boȝt armery..and horses, and other araement. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. 115 Armorie meet for their defense and service. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 27 That armory, Wherein ye have great glory wonne this day. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 553 Celestial Armourie, Shields, Helmes, and Speares. 1783 Cowper Task v. 139 The armory of Winter. 1802 Wordsw. Sonn. Liberty i. xvi, In our halls is hung Armoury of the invincible Knights of old. |
† 2. An armed force. Obs.
| c 1400 Syr Tryam. 49 The kyng bad ordeygne hys armoryes, Knyghtys, squyers, and palfrays, Alle redy for to goo. c 1532 Ld. Berners Huon 523 That with an armeri al ye haue passed, & taken castels. |
3. A place where arms are kept, an arsenal.
| 1538 Leland Itin. IV. 54 A great large Tour caullid White Tour: wherin is now the Kinges Armary. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. iv. ii. 11 The goodliest weapons of his armorie. 1611 Bible Song Sol. iv. 4 The tower of Dauid builded for an armorie. 1671 Milton Samson 1281 Their armories and magazines contemns. 1711 Vind. Sacheverell 8 Like one of the Figures in the Queens-Armory in the Tower. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 678 The public buildings are, an exchange..armoury, poor house. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. I. 171 The armoury..a gothic hall furnished with weapons of various kinds and ages. |
4. fig. (Cf. also armory2.)
| 1615 Hieron Wks. I. 618 The diuels storehouse and his armory of tentations. 1689 Selden Table T. 9 A Book of Apothegms is an armoury of thought. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. II. 31 Language is the armoury of the human mind; and at once contains the trophies of its past and the weapons of its future conquests. 1877 L. Morris Epic Hades i. 31 The subtle wiles a woman draws From the armoury of hate. |
5. The workshop of an armourer; a place where arms are manufactured (U.S.).
| 1841 in Webster. 1859 in Worcester. 1860 Bartlett s.v., The Springfield Armory. |
6. The craft of the armourer.
| 1718 Pope Iliad vii. 270 The work of Tychius, who..in all arts of armoury excell'd. |