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arsenal - 4 dictionary results

ar⋅se⋅nal

  [ahr-suh-nl, ahrs-nuhl]
Use arsenal in a Sentence
–noun
1. a place of storage or a magazine containing arms and military equipment for land or naval service.
2. a government establishment where military equipment or munitions are manufactured.
3. a collection or supply of weapons or munitions.
4. a collection or supply of anything; store: He came to the meeting with an impressive arsenal of new research data.
Origin:
1500–10; (< MF) < It arzanale < Upper Italian (Venetian) arzanà dockyard < Ar dār ṣināʿah workshop (lit., house of handwork); initial d prob. taken as a form of the prep. di from
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ar·se·nal   (är'sə-nəl)   
n.  
  1. A governmental establishment for the storing, development, manufacturing, testing, or repairing of arms, ammunition, and other war materiel.
  2. A stock of weapons.
  3. A store or supply: an arsenal of retorts.

[Italian arsenale, from obsolete arzanale, darsena, from Arabic aṣ ṣinā'a, manufacture, industry, and dār-aṣ-ṣinā'a, place of manufacture : dār, house (from dāra, to turn, revolve; see dwr in Semitic roots) + al-, the + ṣinā'a, manufacture (from ṣana'a, to make; see ṣnʕ in Semitic roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Arsenal

Ar"se*nal\, n. [Sp. & F. arsenal arsenal, dockyard, or It. arzanale, arsenale (cf. It. & darsena dock); all fr. Ar. d[=a]r?in[=a]'a house of industry or fabrication; d[=a]r house + ?in[=a] art, industry.] A public establishment for the storage, or for the manufacture and storage, of arms and all military equipments, whether for land or naval service.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : arsenal
Spanish: arsenal,
German: das Waffenarsenal; das Waffenlager,
Japanese: 兵器庫
More Translations »

arsenal 
1506, "dockyard," from It. arzenale, from Ar. dar as-sina'ah "house of manufacture, workshop," from sina'ah "art, craft, skill," from sana'a "he made." Applied by the Venetians to a large wharf in their city, which was the earliest meaning in Eng. Sense of "public place for making or storing weapons and ammunition" is from 1579.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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