ARMOUR

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does armour mean? 

• ARMOUR (noun)
  The noun ARMOUR has 3 senses:

1. a military unit consisting of armored fighting vehicles

2. protective covering made of metal and used in combat

3. tough more-or-less rigid protective covering of an animal or plant

  Familiarity information: ARMOUR used as a noun is uncommon.

• ARMOUR (verb)
  The verb ARMOUR has 1 sense:

1. equip with armor

  Familiarity information: ARMOUR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARMOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A military unit consisting of armored fighting vehicles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

armor; armour

Hypernyms ("armour" is a kind of...):

force; military force; military group; military unit (a unit that is part of some military service)

Domain category:

armed forces; armed services; military; military machine; war machine (the military forces of a nation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Protective covering made of metal and used in combat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

armor; armour

Hypernyms ("armour" is a kind of...):

protection; protective cover; protective covering (a covering that is intend to protect from damage or injury)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "armour"):

body armor; body armour; cataphract; coat of mail; suit of armor; suit of armour (armor that protects the wearer's whole body)

buckler; shield (armor carried on the arm to intercept blows)

Derivation:

armour (equip with armor)

armourer (a worker skilled in making armor or arms)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Tough more-or-less rigid protective covering of an animal or plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Synonyms:

armor; armour

Hypernyms ("armour" is a kind of...):

protective covering (the tough natural covering of some organisms)

• ARMOUR (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Equip with armor

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

armor; armour

Hypernyms (to "armour" is one way to...):

equip; fit; fit out; outfit (provide with (something) usually for a specific purpose)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

armour (protective covering made of metal and used in combat)

 Context examples 

Slowly, cautiously, it was unrolling its ball of impregnable armour.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I caught glimpses of velvet chairs, a high white marble mantel-piece, and what seemed to be a suit of Japanese armour at one side of it.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In selfish men caution is as secure an armour for their foes as for themselves.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

“You shall likewise have a suit of red armour for the occasion, and ride on a spirited chestnut-horse.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Through the chinks of that armour of folly I have sometimes thought that I had caught a glimpse of a good and true man within, and it pleases me to hope that I was right.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Behold me, on the morrow, in a much-worn little white hat, with a black crape round it for my mother, a black jacket, and a pair of hard, stiff corduroy trousers—which Miss Murdstone considered the best armour for the legs in that fight with the world which was now to come off.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This night twelve men will come: their faces will be black, and they will be dressed in chain armour.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

It would be at once his sheath and his armour, and his weapons to destroy us, his enemies, who are willing to peril even our own souls for the safety of one we love—for the good of mankind, and for the honour and glory of God.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

In spite of his armour of fur, the great vein of his throat would have long since been torn open, had not the first grip of the bull-dog been so low down as to be practically on the chest.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Yet the bells, when they sounded, told me sorrowfully of change in everything; told me of their own age, and my pretty Dora's youth; and of the many, never old, who had lived and loved and died, while the reverberations of the bells had hummed through the rusty armour of the Black Prince hanging up within, and, motes upon the deep of Time, had lost themselves in air, as circles do in water.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)