one-armadj.n.
/ˈwʌnɑːm/, U.S. /ˈwənˈɑrm/ A. adj.
Performed with, or using, only one arm. Also: having only one arm.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > external parts of body > limb > arm > [adjective]
armed1500
long-armed1575
brachial1578
finned1785
one-armed1809
one-arm1906
1906 Westm. Gaz. 7 Sept. 3/2 Ordinarily I can do a one-arm press of 90 lb., but I must confess that I was almost beaten in getting hoisted some of these sheaves.
1944 B. Hope I Never left Home v. 63 He flew a plane back from a mission once holding his wounded copilot in his arms. That's one-arm driving that counts.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 11/3 Modern lifters do not perform one-arm lifts. Once, two of them were on the Olympic agenda: the one-arm press and the one-arm snatch.
1989 K. Gibbons Virtuous Woman (1990) ix. 79 Kept me busy as a one-arm paper hanger, pruning the hedgebushes, arranging pine straw, cleaning out the chicken house.
2000 N.Y. Times 18 May g5/3 A Web site that will help you plan a workout, with instructions and animated images showing the proper way to do crunches, one-arm dumbbell kickbacks and other muscle-isolating movements.
B. n.
= one-arm joint n. at Compounds. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating place > [noun] > eating-house or restaurant > cheap eating-house
hash house1865
hashery1867
beanery1887
quick-and-dirty1892
one-arm lunch room1912
panciteria1912
one-arm joint1915
one-arm lunch1922
greasy spoon1925
one-arm1940
1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey 57 She went with me to this one-arm where I eat.
Compounds
one-arm bandit n. originally U.S. = one-armed bandit n. at one-armed adj. Compounds.
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > gambling machines
gambling machine?1790
poker machine1899
fruit machine1933
one-armed bandit1936
one-arm bandit1937
pokie1965
1937 N.Y. Times 27 June iv. 6/5 Missouri is infested with ‘one-arm bandits’, and the Attorney General McKittrick has declared open war on them.
1996 M. Syal Anita & Me (1997) vii. 181 I had followed him into penny arcades during shopping trips.., and would watch him feed the one-arm bandits carefully.
one-arm joint n. U.S. a cheap restaurant or cafe where the seats have one arm wide enough to hold a plate of food, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating place > [noun] > eating-house or restaurant > cheap eating-house
hash house1865
hashery1867
beanery1887
quick-and-dirty1892
one-arm lunch room1912
panciteria1912
one-arm joint1915
one-arm lunch1922
greasy spoon1925
one-arm1940
1915 N.Y. World Mag. 9 May 14 One arm joint, a chair dairy lunch.
1990 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 1 Sept. i. 25/4 He said he had sampled 1,750 of the 5,595 restaurants listed. ‘I don't monkey with one-arm joints or luncheonettes’, he explained.
one-arm lunch n. U.S. = one-arm joint n.
ΚΠ
1922 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 Dec. 8/1 They blinked their windowed eyes on a passing world that rushed into one-arm lunches and cafeterias.
1988 New Yorker 1 Aug. 40/2 As more self-service restaurants adopted individual sidearm tables..they were nicknamed ‘one-arm lunches’.
one-arm lunch room n. U.S. = one-arm joint n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating place > [noun] > eating-house or restaurant > cheap eating-house
hash house1865
hashery1867
beanery1887
quick-and-dirty1892
one-arm lunch room1912
panciteria1912
one-arm joint1915
one-arm lunch1922
greasy spoon1925
one-arm1940
1912 M. Nicholson Hoosier Chron. 297 Everybody's saying ‘Stop, Look, Listen!’..the white aprons in the one-arm lunch rooms say it now when you kick on the size of the buns.
1975 N.Y. Times 14 Apr. 28/5 Its stores are transient, undercapitalized—mom-and-pop groceries, one-arm lunchrooms, three-years-to-pay furniture emporiums, [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1906