armature

[In Ger. armatur; Fr. arm a teur and armature; Sp. armadura; Ital. & Lat. armatura = (1) armour, (2) armed soldiers, (3) a kind of military exercise.] A. Ordinary Language : 1. Armour worn for the defence of the body, or, more frequently, the armour in which some animals are enveloped for their protection against their natural foes. "Others should be armed with hard shells, others with prickles; the rest, that have no such armature, should be endued with great swiftne and pern i city.' -Ray: Creation. * 2. Offensive weapons. "The double armature is a more destructive engine than the tumultuary weapon."- Dr . H. More: Decay of Piety. B. Technically : 1. Magnetism: The armatures, called also the keepers , of a magnetic bar are pieces of soft iron placed in contact with its poles. 'These, by being acted on inductively, become magnets, and, re-acting in their turn, not IMG:content-0746.png:[blocks in formation] 1. Equipped with weapons offensive or defensive, or both. [B., 1, Mil . ] "So the armed men left the captives and the spoil."-2 Chron. xxviii. 14. 2. Having its natural efficiency increased by mechanical appliances. "But they continually grow larger, and pa by insensible gradations into the state of cloud, when they can no longer elude the armed eye."-Tyndall: Frag. of Science, 3rd ed., vii. 150. II. Fig .: Strengthened in mind and heart against danger. B. Technically: I. Military and Naval: 1. Of men. An armed body of men is a military detachment provided with arms and ammunition, ready for an engagement. [A., 1.] (James: Mil . Dict .) 2. Of ships : (a) Armed in flute , that is, armed after the manner of a transport. Having had part of her guns removed to make more room. In such a case the effective armament of the ve el is le than that at which she is rated. ( Webster .) (b) An armed ship is one taken into the Government service, and equipped in time of war with artillery, ammunition, . (James.) 3. Of shot. A cro bar shot is said to be armed when some rope-yarn is rolled round the end of the iron bar running through the shot. 4. Of procedure. Armed neutrality . [NEUTRALITY.] II. Heraldry : 1. Furnished with arms. A man armed at all points (see the annexed figure) is a man covered with armour on every portion of him excepting only his face. 2. Adding to anything that which will give it greater strength or efficiency. ARMED AT ALL POINTS. The term armed, followed by of , is applied to a beast of prey when his teeth and claws, or to a predatory 305 bird when his talons and beak, are differently coloured from the rest of his body. III. Biology . Used 1. (Zool.) Of the natural armature of various parts of the body of man or of the inferior animals: Furnished with teeth, tusks, nails, claws, . the most formidably armed jaws."-Owen: Cla if. of Mammal i a, p. 76. 2. Botany: Of thorns, prickles, ., on plants. IV. Magnetism. An armed magnet: One provided with an armature (q.v.).