chain mail
4
8.6
- noun
- /tʃeɪn meɪl/
:
cota de malla
- The knight put on his chain mail before heading into battle.
- chain mail armor
- chain mail shirt
- chain mail coat
Examples
-
Strider reaches down and rips the arrow out of Will's chain mail armor.
Fiction book (1996) -
Cedon's home reflected a gentle, saintly nature, and the big Pandion was acutely conscious of his chain-mail shirt and the heavy broadsword belted at his waist.
Fiction book (1993) -
The smaller was a redheaded warrior in chain mail, breeches, and boots.
Fiction book (1994) -
Body armor reached its highest technical development in the late fifteenth century, with flexibly jointed steel plates replacing chain mail.
Academic text (1992) -
D'Cey stripped off his gorget, silk surcoat, and chain mail to get at his clean linen shirt.
Fiction book (2000) -
A chain mail coif surrounded the face, surmounted by a conical helmet in the style of the late thirteenth century.
Fiction book (1991) -
Strider tosses him a chain mail vest—armor.
Fiction book (1996) -
The warrior was a huge barrel-chested man with a glistening blue-black beard that spilled over his chain-mail shirt and reached nearly to his waist.
Fiction book (1990) -
Bogacki, long hair hanging loose, gave his welcoming speech in a brown linen tunic and leggings, flanked by burly graduate students in chain-mail shirts.
Academic text (2007) -
A dozen leather- and chain-mail-clad D'Haran soldiers, their unadorned swords sheathed, or crescent-bladed battle-axes hooked on belt hangers, crossed at an intersection just ahead.
Fiction book (1998)
Synonyms
8
9.9
Armor made of small metal rings joined to protect the body
1
9.9
A type of flexible armor made of small metal rings linked together
1
9.9
A piece of clothing with small metal rings linked together that protects the body in battle
A protective shirt made of small metal rings linked together, worn by knights and soldiers
Flexible protective clothing made from small metal rings linked together
A long shirt of metal rings worn by soldiers for protection in battle
Long coat made of many small metal rings worn without sleeves for protection in battle
How Protective
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'chain' (connected metal rings) combined with 'mail' (a protective garment of linked rings) yields an armor made of interlinked rings. This noun–noun compound follows common formation patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Chain mail comes from its look: many small metal rings linked like a chain to form a 'mesh', and the word mail here means that kind of 'mesh'. That's why chain mail means flexible armor made of joined rings.