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side arm

 
Dictionary: side arm
 

n.

A small weapon, such as a pistol, carried at the side or waist.


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Side arms are weapons that may be hung from the waist such as pistols or a variety of edged weapons.

 
US Military Dictionary: side arms
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Weapons worn at a person's side such as pistols or other small firearms (or, formerly, swords or bayonets).

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
WordNet: side arm
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Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: a firearm that is held and fired with one hand
  Synonyms: pistol, handgun, shooting iron


 
Wikipedia: Side arm
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The M1911 pistol, which was used in the U.S. Army as a side arm from World War I through 1985, when it was replaced by the Beretta 92F.
Pistol used as a side arm by the French Navy.
A modern version of Colt's "Single Action Army" revolver, used as a side arm by the US cavalry in the late 1800s.


A side arm is a firearm, usually a pistol, which is worn on the body in a holster to permit immediate access and use. A side arm is typically required equipment for law enforcement personnel and military personnel. Usually, uniformed personnel of these services wear their weapons openly, while plainclothes personnel have their side arms concealed under their clothes.

Government security service bodyguards for VIPs and heads of state who need a weapon that can be concealed under clothing may have a fully automatic machine pistol as a side arm. In a military setting, machine pistols are issued as personal defense sidearms to paratroopers, artillery crews, helicopter crews or tank crews.

Historically in western armies, and in many contemporary armies, the issue of a side arm in the form of a service pistol is a clear sign of authority and is the mark of a commissioned officer or senior NCO. In the protocol of military courtesy, the surrender of a commander's side arm is the final act in the general surrender of a unit. If no ill will is meant, and a strict interpretation of military courtesy is applied, a surrendering commander may be allowed to keep his side arm in order to exercise his right of command over his men. Similarly, many commanders on a local level have been anecdotally cited as having used the threat of their side arms to motivate troops, to varied effect.

Other eras

The term can also refer to swords and other mêlée weapons (eg. the rapier, the tanto and wakizashi, the arming sword and the side-sword are all considered sidearms for their respective eras of use); the modern use of it usually pertains to pistols and similar firearms.

References


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Military History Companion. The Oxford Companion to Military History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Side arm" Read more