Definition: Weapon

From New World Encyclopedia
(Redirected from Weapon)

Etymology

From Middle English wepen, from Old English wÇ£pn, from Proto-West Germanic *wÄpn, from Proto-Germanic *wÄ“pnÄ… (weapon), of unknown origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wÄ“bnom. Cognate with Scots wapyn, wappen (weapon), West Frisian wapen (weapon), Dutch wapen (weapon, coat of arms), Low German wapen (weapon), German Waffe (weapon) and Wappen (coat of arms), Danish vÃ¥ben (weapon, coat of arms), Swedish vapen (weapon, coat of arms), Norwegian BokmÃ¥l vÃ¥pen (weapon), Icelandic vopn (weapon).

Noun

weapon (plural weapons)

  1. An instrument of attack or defense in combat or hunting, e.g. most guns, missiles, or swords; arm.
    The club that is now mostly used for golf was once a common weapon.
  2. An instrument or other means of harming or exerting control over another.
    Money is the main weapon of modern oligarchs.

Derived terms

  • assault weapon
  • atomic weapon
  • beweapon
  • biological weapon
  • bioweapon
  • chemical weapon
  • conventional weapon
  • cyberweapon
  • digital weapon
  • doomsday weapon
  • energy weapon
  • murder weapon
  • nonweapon
  • nuclear weapon
  • radiological weapon
  • ranged weapon
  • siege weapon
  • space weapon
  • superweapon
  • thermonuclear weapon
  • weaponed
  • weaponeer
  • weaponization
  • weaponize
  • weaponless
  • weaponlike
  • weapon oath
  • weapon of mass destruction
  • weaponry
  • weaponsmith
  • weaponsmithing

Verb

weapon (third-person singular simple present weapons, present participle weaponing, simple past and past participle weaponed)

  1. To equip with a weapon; to arm.

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here: