supplied to Martin Frobisher in 1576, price L4, 6_s._ 8_d._

ARMING. A piece of tallow placed in the cavity and over the bottom of a
sounding lead, to which any objects at the bottom of the sea become
attached, and are brought with the lead to the surface.

ARMINGS. Red dress cloths which were formerly hung fore and aft, outside
the upper works on holidays; still used by foreigners. (_See_
TOP-ARMINGS.) It was also the name of a kind of boarding-net.

ARMIPOTENT. Powerful in war.

ARMISTICE. A cessation of arms for a given time; a short truce for the
suspension of hostilities.

ARMLET. A narrow inlet of the sea; a smaller branch than the arm. Also
the name of a piece of armour for the arm, to protect it from the jar of
the bow-string.

ARMOGAN. An old term for good opportunity or season for navigation,
which, if neglected, was liable to costs of demurrage. It is a
Mediterranean word for fine weather.

ARMORIC. The language of Brittany, Cornwall, and Wales: the word in its
original signification meant _maritime_.

ARMOUR. A defensive habit to protect the wearer from his enemy; also
defensive arms. In old statutes this is frequently called _harness_.

ARMOUR-CLAD. A ship of war fitted with iron plates on the outside to
render her shot-proof.

ARMOURER. In a man-of-war, is a person appointed by warrant to keep the
small arms in complete condition for service. As he is also the ship's
blacksmith, a mate is allowed to assist at the forge.

ARMOURY. A place appropriated for the keeping of small arms.

ARM-RACK. A frame or fitting for the stowage of arms (usually vertical)
out of harm's way, but in readiness for immediate use. In the conveyance
of troops by sea arm-racks form a part of the proper accommodation.

ARMS. The munitions of war,--all kinds of weapons whether for offence or
defence. Those in a ship are cannons, carronades, mortars, howitzers,
muskets, pistols, tomahawks, cutlasses, bayonets, and boarding-pikes.

ARMS OF A GREAT GUN. The trunnions.

ARMSTRONG GUN. Invented by Sir William Armstrong. In its most familiar
form, a rifled breech-loading gun of wrought iron, constructed
principally of spirally coiled bars, and occasionally having an inner
tube or core of steel; ranging in size from the smallest field-piece up
to the 100 pounder; rifled with numerous shallow grooves, which are
taken by the expansion of the leaden coating of its projectile. Late
experiments however, connected with iron-plated