unˈarmed, ppl. a.
Also 3 uniarmed, 5 Sc. unermyt, onarmed.
[un-1 8.]
1. Not armed; having no armour or weapons.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11274 Vn iarmed out he wende to þe barons wel stille. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 6947 (Kölbing), Vnarmed were þe paiens alle, Our folk hem gun to talle. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 353 Þey fiȝteþ vnarmed, naked in body. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. 1719 Cruelly þei had his hede of smet, For he vnarmyd al at meschef stood. 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 113 A man that is outhir unarmyt, or evill armyt may nocht hald felde in bataill place. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lxvii. 230 All his company were vnarmed, & all the other .xl. were clene armed. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love Ep. Ded. *iij, Neither are able many of them being vnarmed to withstand the enemy. 1632 W. Lithgow Trav. iii. 89, I neuer could see a Greeke come forth of his house vnarmed. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 626 He all unarm'd Shall chase thee with the terror of his voice. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 200 He came down unarmed to a centinel of ours. 1794 S. Williams Vermont 170 An unarmed defenceless stranger. 1839 Thirlwall Greece VI. 223 The Thracians were keeping very negligent guard, and, in imagined security, were mostly unarmed. 1882 H. De Windt Equator 69 The remainder of the tribe were unarmed, as it is made a strict rule in Sarawak that..all arms..shall be left behind. |
| absol. 1590 Barwick Disc. Weapons 10 b, The musket..will kill the armed of proofe at ten skore yardes,..and the vnarmed at thirty skore. |
| transf. 1634 Milton Comus 582 Th' unarmed weakness of one Virgin Alone, and helpless! 1827 Pollok Course T. ix. 965 Sin's dark tactics, such as boyish man, Unarmed by strength divine, could ill withstand. |
b. Phr.
unarmed combat.
| 1947 ‘N. Shute’ Chequer Board ix. 262 ‘You went on to a course in unarmed combat. What did they teach you to do there?’ ‘We was taught how to attack an armed man just with our hands and feet.’ 1957 J. Braine Room at Top xxx. 252 A hand on my shoulder..started the Unarmed Combat reflexes working. 1973 J. R. L. Anderson Death on Rocks ii. 39 If I could get my hands on him—well, I'd been quite good at what the Army calls unarmed combat. |
2. Of animals, etc.: Not fitted for attack; not furnished with horns, teeth, or the like.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. lxxx. (Bodl. MS.), The schepe..is a nesche beeste and bereþ wolle & is vnarmed & plesinge in herte. 1649 Lovelace Lucasta Poems (1904) 95 A Falcon..Unarm'd of Wings and Scaly Oare. 1804 Shaw Gen. Zool. V. i. 14 Unarmed Silure, Silurus Inermis. 1834 M{supc}Murtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 495 Furcularia... The body is unarmed. 1855 Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 108 Reptiles..whose two tusks, in an otherwise unarmed jaw, strikingly distinguish them from any of their contemporaries. 1869 Tanner Clin. Med. (ed. 2) 309 The unarmed or beef tape-worm,..as its name implies, is unfurnished with hooks around its head. |
3. Of plants: Destitute of prickles, spines, or thorns.
| 1676 Grew Anat. Flowers ii. App. §11 The Top is Thorny, as in Furz; or Vnarmed. Vnarmed, either produced, that is, poynted, or at least, Roundish. 1793 Martyn Lang. Bot., Inerme folium, an unarmed leaf. 1845 Steele Field Bot. 218 Bracts of invol. linear-lanceolate, almost unarmed. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. II. 298 Unarmed Hornwort. Fruit without either spines or tubercles. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 107 Prunus communis,..Sub-sp. domestica;..branches straight unarmed. |
4. Of things: Not provided with anything that assists or strengthens.
| 1693 Dryden Juvenal x. 319 The same foulness does to Age belong, The self same Palsie,..And Gums unarm'd to mumble Meat in vain. a 1721 Prior Journ. to Copt-Hall 12, I mount, and great as Hudibrass, With unarm'd kick urge on my horse. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. xxvii. 200 Pattens..sank less deeply than the unarmed feet. 1860 Emerson Cond. Life v. 156 In Siberia, a late traveller found men who could see the satellites of Jupiter with their unarmed eye. |
† 5. Of a magnet: Not provided with an armature.
Obs.| 1662 J. Bargrave Pope Alex. VII (1867) 120 Two large loadstones, one armed with steel... The other..is unarmed. 1730 Phil. Trans. XXXVI. 325, I placed the Pole of the upper Armour about 4 or 5 Inches from the Top of the unarmed Bar. 1777 Ibid. LXVII. 135 A fine, smooth, unarmed load-stone. |
Hence
unˈarmedness.
| 1684 H. More Answer 208 This Lamblike condition of it is chiefly represented in this present Vision, its seeming harmlesness and unarmedness. |