[syn: weapon, artillery]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Weapon \Weap"on\ (w[e^]p"[u^]n; 277), n. [OE. wepen, AS.
w[=ae]pen; akin to OS. w[=a]pan, OFries. w[=e]pin, w[=e]pen,
D. wapen, G. waffe, OHG. waffan, w[=a]fan, Icel. v[=a]pn,
Dan. vaaben, Sw. vapen, Goth. w[=e]pna, pl.; of uncertain
origin. Cf. Wapentake.]
[1913 Webster]
1. An instrument of offensive of defensive combat; something
to fight with; anything used, or designed to be used, in
destroying, defeating, or injuring an enemy, as a gun, a
sword, etc.
[1913 Webster]
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. --2 Cor.
x. 4.
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They, astonished, all resistance lost,
All courage; down their idle weapons dropped.
--Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. Fig.: The means or instrument with which one contends
against another; as, argument was his only weapon.
"Woman's weapons, water drops." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Bot.) A thorn, prickle, or sting with which many plants
are furnished.
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Concealed weapons. See under Concealed.
Weapon salve, a salve which was supposed to cure a wound by
being applied to the weapon that made it. [Obs.] --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
weapon
n 1: any instrument or instrumentality used in fighting or
hunting; "he was licensed to carry a weapon" [syn:
weapon, arm, weapon system]
2: a means of persuading or arguing; "he used all his
conversational weapons" [syn: weapon, artillery]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
23 Moby Thesaurus words for "weapon":
A-weapons, armament, arms, biological weapons,
conventional weapons, cutting edge, deadly weapons, edge,
edge tool, featheredge, instruments of destruction, knife-edge,
missilery, munitions, musketry, nuclear weapons, ordnance,
razor-edge, side arms, small arms, thermonuclear weapons, weaponry,
weapons