Under arms
State of military readiness
Under arms describes a state of military readiness (actual or ceremonial). Typically, troops are considered "under arms" when they are in uniform, on duty, and carrying a weapon (rifle, side-arm, or sword), as opposed to being in uniform, on duty, but not carrying a weapon.
Soldiers not actually carrying a weapon but wearing a service belt or web gear associated with carrying weapons may be considered to be symbolically "under arms".
Soldiers normally remove headgear while indoors; however, soldiers who are under arms normally wear their headgear indoors, with a few exceptions.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Under arms”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.