at arm's length

noun

the upper limb of the human body, especially the part extending from the shoulder to the wrist.

the upper limb from the shoulder to the elbow.

the forelimb of any vertebrate.

some part of an organism like or likened to an arm.

any armlike part or attachment, as the tone arm of a phonograph.

a covering for the arm, especially a sleeve of a garment: the arm of a coat.

an administrative or operational branch of an organization: A special arm of the government will investigate.

Nautical. any of the curved or bent pieces of an anchor, terminating in the flukes. See diag. under anchor.

an armrest.

10.

an inlet or cove: an arm of the sea.

11.

a combat branch of the military service, as the infantry, cavalry, or field artillery.

12.

power; might; strength; authority: the long arm of the law.

13.

Typography. either of the extensions to the right of the vertical line of a K or upward from the vertical stem of a Y.

Idioms

14.

an arm and a leg, a great deal of money: Our night on the town cost us an arm and a leg.

15.

arm in arm, with arms linked together or intertwined: They walked along arm in arm.

16.

at arm's length, not on familiar or friendly terms; at a distance: He's the kind of person you pity but want to keep at arm's length.

17.

in the arms of Morpheus, asleep: After a strenuous day, he was soon in the arms of Morpheus.

18.

on the arm, Slang. free of charge; gratis: an investigation of policemen who ate lunch on the arm.

19.

put the arm on, Slang.

to solicit or borrow money from: She put the arm on me for a generous contribution.

to use force or violence on; use strong-arm tactics on: If they don't cooperate, put the arm on them.

20.

twist someone's arm, to use force or coercion on someone.

21.

with open arms, cordially; with warm hospitality: a country that receives immigrants with open arms.

00:10

At arm's length is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English earm; cognate with Gothic arms, Old Norse armr, Old Frisian erm, Dutch, Old Saxon, Old High German arm (German Arm) arm; Latin armus, Serbo-Croatian rȁme, rȁmo shoulder; akin to Sanskrit īrmá, Avestan arəma-, OPruss irmo arm; not akin to Latin arma arm²

Related forms

armed, adjective

arm·like, adjective

Can be confused: alms, arms.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

arm¹ (ɑːm)

—n
1.	(in man) either of the upper limbs from the shoulder to the wristRelated: brachial
2.	the part of either of the upper limbs from the elbow to the wrist; forearm
3.	a. the corresponding limb of any other vertebrate
	b. an armlike appendage of some invertebrates
4.	an object that covers or supports the human arm, esp the sleeve of a garment or the side of a chair, sofa, etc
5.	anything considered to resemble an arm in appearance, position, or function, esp something that branches out from a central support or larger mass: an arm of the sea; the arm of a record player
6.	an administrative subdivision of an organization: an arm of the government
7.	power; authority: the arm of the law
8.	any of the specialist combatant sections of a military force, such as cavalry, infantry, etc
9.	nautical See yardarm
10.	esp sport, ball games ability to throw or pitch: he has a good arm
11.	informal an arm and a leg a large amount of money
12.	arm in arm with arms linked
13.	at arm's length at a distance; away from familiarity with or subjection to another
14.	informal give one's right arm to be prepared to make any sacrifice
15.	in the arms of Morpheus sleeping
16.	with open arms with great warmth and hospitality: to welcome someone with open arms

—vb
17.	archaic (tr) to walk arm in arm with

Related: brachial

[Old English; related to German Arm, Old Norse armr arm, Latin armus shoulder, Greek harmos joint]

'armless¹

—*adj*

'armlike¹

—*adj*

arm² (ɑːm)

—vb
1.	to equip with weapons as a preparation for war
2.	to provide (a person or thing) with something that strengthens, protects, or increases efficiency: he armed himself against the cold
3.	a. to activate (a fuse) so that it will explode at the required time
	b. to prepare (an explosive device) for use by introducing a fuse or detonator
4.	nautical to pack arming into (a sounding lead)

—n
5.	(usually plural) a weapon, esp a firearm

[C14: (n) back formation from arms, from Old French armes, from Latin arma; (vb) from Old French armer to equip with arms, from Latin armāre, from arma arms, equipment]

ARM

—*abbreviation for*
	adjustable rate mortgage

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

arm

"body part," O.E. earm "arm," from P.Gmc. *armaz (cf. O.S., M.Du., Ger. arm, O.N. armr, O.Fris. erm), from PIE base *ar- "fit, join" (cf. Skt. irmah "arm," Armenian armukn "elbow," O.Prus. irmo "arm," Gk. arthron "a joint," L. armus "shoulder"). Arm of the sea was in O.E. Arm-twister "powerful persuader"

is from 1938. Arm-wrestling is from 1971.

"They wenten arme in arme yfere Into the gardyn" [Chaucer]

arm

"weapon," c.1300, from O.Fr. armes (pl.), 11c., from L. arma "weapons," lit. "tools, implements (of war)," from PIE base *ar- "fit, join." The notion seems to be "that which is fitted together." Meaning "heraldic insignia" (in coat of arms, etc.) is early 14c.; originally they were borne on shields of

fully armed knights or barons. The verb meaning "to furnish with weapons" is from c.1200.

American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

arm ¹ (ärm)
n.
An upper limb of the human body, connecting the hand and wrist to the shoulder.

Slang Dictionary

arm definition

n.
a police officer. (Underworld. See also long arm of the law.) : What'll you do if the arms come in while you're sawing the bars of your cell?

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage

Abbreviations & Acronyms

ARM

adjustable rate mortgage
Alien Resistance Movement
antiradiation missile
Armenia (international vehicle ID)

Easton

Bible Dictionary

Arm definition

used to denote power (Ps. 10:15; Ezek. 30:21; Jer. 48:25). It is also used of the omnipotence of God (Ex. 15:16; Ps. 89:13; 98:1; 77:15; Isa. 53:1; John 12:38; Acts 13:17)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

at arm's length

At a distance, avoiding intimacy or familiarity, as in Bill hated seeing his colleagues outside the office, preferring to keep all of them at arm's length, or She was friendly only when he was safely at arm's length. Now often used with the verb keep, this term for distancing oneself from a person, organization, or issue originated as at arm's end but developed its current form by the mid-1600s.

Matching Quote

"The people of the United States have been fortunate in many things. One of the things in which we have been most fortunate has been that so far, due perhaps to certain basic virtues in our traditional ways of doing things, we have managed to keep the crisis of western civilization, which has devastated the rest of the world and in which we are as much involved as anybody, more or less at arm's length."

-John Dos Passos

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