armour

pronunciation

How to pronounce armour in British English: UK ['ɑ:mə(r)] word uk audio image

How to pronounce armour in American English: US [ˈɑrmɚ] word us audio image

Noun:

a military unit consisting of armored fighting vehicles
protective covering made of metal and used in combat
tough more-or-less rigid protective covering of an animal or plant
Verb:

equip with armor

Word Origin

armour: armour: [13] Armour comes ultimately from Latin armātūra ‘armour, equipment’, a derivative of the verb armāre ‘arm’ (the direct English borrowing armature [15] originally meant ‘armour’ or ‘weapons’, but the ‘protective’ notion of armour led to its application in the 18th century to ‘metal covering the poles of a magnet’). In Old French armātūra became armeure, and subsequently armure, the form in which it was borrowed into English (the -our ending was artificially grafted on in the 14th century on the model of other Latin-based words such as colour and odour). Armoury is French in origin: Old French armoier ‘coat of arms’ was a derivative of arme ‘weapon’; this became armoirie, which was borrowed into English in the 15th century as armory, meaning ‘heraldry’, but also, owing to their formal similarity, came to be used with the same sense as armour – ‘protective metal suit’ or ‘weapons’.This was what armoury meant when it came into English in the 14th century (and the sense survived long enough to be used by Wordsworth in a sonnet to ‘Liberty’ 1802: ‘In our halls is hung armoury of invincible knights of old’). The meaning ‘place for keeping weapons’ developed in the 16th century.=> armature

armour: chiefly British English spelling of armor (q.v.); for suffix, see -or.

2. The surrounding seas have long been regarded as japan 's protective armour , or sometimes its womb .

3. Government troops and their heavy armour should withdraw from towns to let 300 un monitors oversee the peace .