Armoire (arm war )

[A Fr. word.] A clothes-pre ; a closet; a buffet. Armo/ni, son of Saul, by Rizpah. (2 Sam. xxi. 8.) Ar'monk, in New York , a post-office of West chester co. Armor, Armour, n. [From Lat. arm a , arms; Fr. armure. Defensive arms; any habit worn to protect the body in battle. ( Hast .) From the earliest dawn of the historic era we find mention of this defensive covering. Leather, bra , iron, and even gold were employed for their fabrication. According to Homer, the golden A. of Glaucus was worth 100 oxen, and from the description in the Iliad we may learn how highly ornamented was the shield of Achilles. An ancient Greek soldier's heavy A. was composed of his greaves (or leg-guards), cuira (or thorax) protecting his back and chest, sword, ma ive round shield, helmet, and finally his spear. (See Fig . 194.) Among the Egyptians, metal A. seems to have been worn only by the monarchs and nobility. With the Romans, the attire of a soldier was almost identical with Fig . 192.-A KNIGHT OF THE 15TH CENTURY. Armed at all points. that of the Greek warrior already described. The ancient Britons, Germans, and Gauls, it is supposed, had no other defensive A. than a shield. The Anglo-Saxon 4. consisted of shield, helmet, neck-guard, and breast taloons, which were strengthened by a net-work of perforated steel lozenges, called mascles. They also wore a conical skull-cap, probably of leather, and had battle-axes, swords, and spears. In the Middle Ages, a knight, when attiring himself in his suit of steel, called A. or harne , as represented in Fig . 192, commenced with his feet, and, proceeding upward, put on succe ively his sabatynes , or steel clogs; his greaves, or shin pieces; his cui es , or thigh-pieces; his breech of mail; his tuillettes , or enveloping-pieces below the waist; his cuira , or breast-plate; his vambraces , or arm-coverings; his rerebraces , or shoulder-coverings; his gauntlets ; next, he hung his dagger; put on his short sword; donned his cloak; cased his head in his ba inet , or helmet ; fastened his long sword; took into his left hand his pennon cel or lance; and, finally, he took up his shield. He was then said to be " Armed cap - à - pie ," "from head to foot," or " at all points ." - A suit of A. was generally made of chain-mail; but in the 14th century, plate-armor came into use, and reached its acmé of splendor in the reign of Richard III, when it was often damascened and inlaid with gold. In the beginning of the 17th century, A. fell into general disuse, though Charles I. endeavored to revive the fashion of wearing a complete suit. The belmet and cuira are still retained in several élite corps of the European armies, as, for instance, the English Royal Horse-Guards and Life-Guards, the French CentGardes, and the Imperial Guard of the Czar of Ru ia, the French heavy cavalry called cuira iers, . Ar'mor-bearer, n. One who carries the armor of another; an esquire.