ˈfire-arm
Usually pl.
[f. fire n. + arm n.2]
A weapon from which missiles are propelled by the combustion of gunpowder or other explosive. (The sing. is late and rare in use.)
| 1646 Evelyn Diary, Brescia, Here I purchas'd..my fine carabine..this citty being famous for these fire-armes. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. ii. (1702) I. 92 Nor had they Ammunition to supply their few Fire-Arms. 1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) I. xvii. 331 I left them my fire-arms; viz. five muskets. 1840 Thackeray Paris Sk.-bk. (1872) 197 He heard the report of a fire-arm. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. III. 267 Battles are more and more fought out with fire-arms. |
Hence ˈfire-armed ppl. a., provided with fire-arms.
| 1869 Petherick Trav. I. 139 The negroes..having only clubs and lances, they were soon overpowered by the fire-armed Arabs. |