Arms
Arms names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Arms a term applied to weapons of offense
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a term applied to weapons of offense, which are divisible into two distinct sections-firearms , and arms used without gunpowder or other explosive substance. The first arms of offense would probably be wooden clubs, then would follow wooden weapons made more deadly by means of stone or bone, stone axes, slings, bows and arrows, with heads of flint or bone, and afterward various weapons of bronze. Subsequently a variety of arms of iron and steel were introduced, which comprised the sword, javelin, pike, spear or lance , dagger, axe, mace, chariot scythe, etc.; with a rude artillery consisting of catapults, ballistæ, and batteringrams. The most characteristic weapon of the Roman legionary soldier was the pilum , which was a kind of pike or javelin, some 6 feet or more in length. The pilum was sometimes used at close quarters, but more commonly it was thrown . The favorite weapons of the ancient Germanic races were the battle-axe, the lance, or dart, and the sword.' The weapons of the Anglo-Saxons spears, axes, swords, knives, and maces or clubs. The Normans had similar weapons, and were well furnished with archers and cavalry. The cross -bow was a comparatively late invention introduced by the Normans. Gunpow unpowder was not used in Europe to discharge projectiles till the beginning of the 14th century. Cannon are first mentioned in England in 1338, and there seems to be no doubt that they were used by the English at the siege of Cambrai in 1339. The projectiles first used for cannon were of stone. Hand firearms date from the 15th century. At first they required two men to serve them, and it was necessary to rest the muzzle on a stand in aiming and firing. The first improvement was the invention of the matchlock, about 1476; this was followed by were the wheel-lock, and about the middle of the 17th century by the flint-lock, which was in universal use until it was superseded by the percussion-lock, the invention of a Scotch clergyman early in the 19th century. The needlegun dates from 1827. The only important weapon not a firearm that has been invented since the introduction of gunpowder, is the bayonet, which is believed to have been invented about 1650. The principal weapons used in modern warfare will be found under their respective names .
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
weapons. We may suppose the first weapon to have been a fragment of stone thrown from the hand, or a branch wrested from a tree and used as a club. Later the stone was flung by means of a sling, and this missile was displaced by the lead or the steel bullet projected by an explosive, as powder. The modifications of the club are too numerous to trace. The mace, the sword, and the battle-ax may be regarded as weapons for blows given with the edge. The long leaf-shaped flint knife of primitive man had a keen edge and an artistic shape. Its descendants are the bronze and steel dagger, the poniard, and the bowie knife . The javelin, spear, and lance form still another class of weapons for blows given with the point. Preceding firearms were the bow and arrow , the crossbow, and the arbalest. In contrast with artillery, all sorts of guns, the musket, arquebus, rifle, shotgun, carbine, pistol, derringer, and Colt's revolver, are called firearms. See Fire Arms ; Artillery ; Archery ; Gunpowder ; Sword ; Sling ; Armor ; Arquebus Armor. Patterns of mail. Polish knight, Battle of Ascalon Armor. Carlovingian man-at-arms. French warrior. German armor. Patterns of mail Armor. Steel cap. Vizor. Aventaile. Throat piece
Arms COAT OF, or ARMORIAL BEARINGS
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
COAT OF, or ARMORIAL BEARINGS, a collective name for the devices borne on shields, banners, etc., as marks the dignity and distinction , and , in the case of family and feudal arms, descending from father to son. They were first employed by the crusaders, and became hereditary in families at the close of the 12th century. They took their rise from the knights painting their banners or shields each with a figure or figures proper to himself, to enable him to be distinguished in battle when clad in armor.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's 1921 list ended with the needle-gun of 1827 and called the bayonet, of about 1650, "the only important weapon not a firearm" invented since gunpowder ing nuclear weapon was tested at Alamogordo in July 1945, and the arsenal it opened — ballistic missiles, guided munitions and armed drones — has no counterpart in either account. On the ancient end, archaeology has pushed the story back well beyond Collier's guess that "the first arms of offense would probably be wooden clubs": stone-tipped spear points and the wooden throwing spears found at Schöningen in Germany show hunting weapons in use hundreds of thousands of years ago. The heraldry entry, by contrast, still holds: arms are granted and inherited much as described, with the College of Arms in London and the Lord Lyon in Scotland continuing to issue them, though modern practice increasingly allows arms to pass through daughters as well as sons.
Written for this edition, 2026.