order arms
1
8.6
- noun
- Jargon
:
posición de armas
- Order arms!
Examples
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The other day, we had a general inspection; the regiment was drawn up in line of battle and at order arms.
Blog text (18) -
Color guard, order arms!
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Detail, order arms!
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All guard, order arms!
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Order arms!
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Order arms!
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Order arms.
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Order arms!
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Sentry, order arms!
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During the ceremony, the soldiers stood at order arms, holding their rifles vertically beside them.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The components 'order' (a command) and 'arms' (weapons) make it clear to a learner that this concerns a command about weapons or rifles, so the general idea is inferable. However, the precise procedural meaning — a specific drill position (rifle held vertically with butt on ground) and its use as a named posture — is specialized military knowledge not predictable from the words alone, so the expression is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Order arms comes from soldiers holding their arms, the rifles, straight up at their right side with the butt resting on the ground when an officer gives the order. So the phrase now means that command and the relaxed 'stand at ease' position.