passage of arms
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From French.
Noun[edit]
passage of arms (plural passages of arms)
- A chivalric feat of arms involving the forcing of a passage protected by a knight or a group of knights.
- Any feat of arms, especially when used to display the prowess of the participants.
- An argument or quarrel.
- 1852, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in Bleak House:
- […] she is the high standard of comparison among the neighbouring wives […] , who in any domestic passages of arms habitually call upon their husbands to look at the difference between their position and Mrs. Snagsby’s […]
Coordinate terms[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- “passage of arms”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.