ppl. a.
1. Adequately armed for war or combat. Also transf. and fig.
c. 1290. St. Christopher, 143, in S. Eng. Leg., 275. Wel I-armede heo wenden forth.
13[?]. K. Alis., 2582. Faire chevalry him cam fro Mede, Wel y-armed, on heygh stede.
1340. Ayenb., 170. Þet þe man by wel y-armed uor to ouercome parfitliche zenne.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VIII. clxxix. 6723. His hors weill armyt wes.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. xxvi. 469. A thowsand shall I assay, and mo, well armed ilkon.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. i. 216. In strong proofe of chastity well-arm’d. Ibid. (1605), Lear, III. vii. 20. Gone with him towards Douer, where they boast to haue well armed friends.
1635–56. Cowley, Davideis, IV. 699. A vast, well-arm’d and glittering Host.
1791. Cowper, Iliad, IX. 96. Forth rush’d the guard well-armed.
1875. Higginson, Hist. U.S., xv. 133. The Indians’ arrows did not put them on an equality with the well-armed Englishmen.
1901. N. Amer. Rev., Feb., 206. England ought above all to do two things: Create a regular and well disciplined army, and secure a well-armed diplomacy.
2. Furnished with a powerful armature.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xi. 273. A strong and well-armed loadstone.
