arm piecen.
/ˈɑːm piːs/, U.S. /ˈɑrm ˌpis/ 1. A piece of armour to protect the arm. Now historical.
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society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > armour for limbs > [noun] > arm armour
bracer?a1400
bracec1400
sleeve1465
plate-sleeve1578
bracelet1580
monion1652
brachal1658
arm piece1659
armlet1706
1659 C. Hoole tr. J. A. Comenius Orbis Sensualium Pictus cxxxix. 282/1 The Armour, whose parts are, a Collar,..a Brest-plate,..Arm-pieces.
1796 R. Gough Sepulchral Monuments Great Brit. II. 23 His helmet almost round, with a small nob or pointal top; his arm-pieces large rounds with lozenges in the centre.
1845 M. Fuller Woman in 19th Cent. 74 A golden helmet and arm-pieces.
1922 Bull. Cleveland Museum of Art 9 43 Two brassards or arm pieces made for a German youth of the sixteenth century.
1998 S. W. Pyhrr & J.A. Godoy Heroic Armor Ital. Renaissance 104 Among the designs for arm pieces one notices a dolphin-masked pauldron with pteruges and vambraces of plate and mail.
2. A piece or component for or constituting an arm.
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1722 D. Turner Art of Surg. I. 481 I shall prefer..for the Wrist or Arm, the laced Glove or Arm-piece: for the Leg or Thigh, the strait Stocking or Trowse, which bind more sure and equal than the others.
1835 Boston Med. & Surg. Jrnl. 18 Feb. 33 A chair designed for the sick..consists of a substantial frame..; the back posts rising higher than the front ones, by an easy curve of the arm-pieces.
1968 N.Y. Times 11 May 45/1 Both the new types [of flying platform] have arm pieces with which the pilot directs the thrust of the gases down and back.
2005 Independent on Sunday 10 July (Review Suppl.) 51/1 Hannah Martin has created a diamond-studded arm piece whose stones can spell any Braille message the client desires.
3. A physically attractive companion, esp. a woman, seen on the arm of a person, typically a male celebrity, at a social event; = arm candy n. at arm n.1 Compounds. Cf. piece n. 9b.
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society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > a companion or associate > [noun] > other types of companion
consenter1303
pew-fellow1533
bander1563
intercommoner1567
convenera1572
compeer1574
copemate1593
coherent1598
minion1598
barnacle1607
intercommuner1620
shade1667
dangler1728
rafiq1783
esquire1824
Sancho1870
tag-along1961
homeboy1965
bredda1969
arm piece1975
1975 Progress-Index (Petersburg, Va.) 6 Oct. 5/3 She [sc. a model] says she is always ‘a little mistrustful of a certain kind of man who invites me out because I'm a good arm piece or an ornament.’
1985 Guardian (Nexis) 16 Oct. It is a place that would once have been full of cigar-smoking men, fluffy arm-piece at their side.
1994 Washington Post 23 June c3 I'm not the conventional arm piece. People don't say, ‘She'd look really good on my arm in a tight dress.’
2012 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 23 Feb. e1 Both stars and arm-pieces are certain to commit sartorial blunders at the Academy Awards.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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