armour-cladarmor-cladadj.n.
/ˈɑːməklad/, U.S. /ˈɑrmərˌklæd/ A. adj.
1. Clad in, protected by, or covered with armour (armour n. 2a); spec. (of a warship) covered wholly or partly with thick defensive metal plates (now historical; cf. ironclad adj. 2).
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > military equipment > armour > [adjective] > clad in or protected by armour
armedc1300
wrienc1330
steel-clada1400
armed at (also of) all piecesc1400
harnessedc1460
enarmedc1540
armoured1564
steeled1596
iron-clothed1728
armour-clad1768
hoplomachic1832
well-armoured1852
brazen-mailed1870
pamphract1890
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [adjective] > armour-plated
armour-clad1768
mail-clad1777
iron-cased1855
ironclad1855
iron-plated1855
iron-sided1855
armoured1859
iron-clothed1859
mailed1860
armour-plated1862
cuirassed1864
belted1865
Harveyed1894
up-armoured1978
1768 S. Bentley River Dove 14 Those Battlements mounted on high, The Skill of old Masonry shew, Secure from the Frauds of the Spy, Or Storms from the armour-clad Foe.
1862 Cassell's Illustr. Family Paper 11 Jan. 104/2 The armour-clad vessels of the South.
1869 in Eng. Mech. 1 Oct. 32/2 Like an armour-clad war steamer.
1918 A. C. Holms Pract. Shipbuilding I. (rev. ed.) xlii. 557 The building slip for a modem Atlantic liner, or armour-clad battleship, is always extensively piled.
1930 Engineering 25 Apr. 557/1 The struggle between cubicle and armour-clad [switch] gear is still going on.
1984 Washington Post (Nexis) 17 Dec. (Style section) c11 We are shown..tedious tableaux of ancient Indians..and armor-clad Spanish explorers.
2005 M. E. Wiesner-Hanks Age Voy., 1350–1600 ix. 134 (caption) Armor-clad Portuguese men with guns and daggers surround a leopard.
2. Of an animal, or a part of its body: having the surface protected by a defensive outer layer of scales, bones, plates, etc.; = armoured adj. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > animal body > general parts > covering or skin > [adjective] > having a hard protective covering
maileda1450
crustaceous1659
crustate1661
galeated1728
galeate1826
armour-clad1843
cuirassed1849
armour-plated1862
exostosed1887
1843 Visitor July 247/1 We shall find a wide difference between the mode in which it is effected in the Echinus and in the armour-clad lobster or crab.
1849 S. Maunder Treasury Nat. Hist. (ed. 2) 211/2 The armour-clad, insectivorous Armadillos, of South America; the tree-inhabiting Sloths, and hairy toothless Ant-eaters..all belong to the order Edentata.
1901 Westm. Gaz. 11 Apr. 10/2 Miolania, a large armour-clad aquatic tortoise.
1903 R. Lydekker Mostly Mammals 308 Armour-clad whales.
1922 F. Rothwell tr. C. Saint-Saëns Outspoken Ess. Music 130 The light armour-clad insect may fall from enormous heights without suffering in any way.
2012 M. Bright Future Life Earth 34 (table) Jawless fish, primitive armour-clad fishes that probably fed by sucking food into the mouth.
B. n.
An armour-clad warship. Cf. ironclad n. 1. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > war vessel > [noun] > iron-clad or armoured ship
Ironside1861
armour-clad1862
ironclad1862
hog in armour1864
1862 Boston Daily Advertiser 18 Nov. 2/5 What, in your opinion, would be the proper armament for vessels-of-war, and for harbor defenses, to be used against armor-clads?
1905 Jrnl. Royal United Service Inst. Sept. 1084 The ‘Orel’ to-day, as an armour-clad, is practically as good as on the day she was launched.
2005 R. L. Underwood Stephen Russell Mallory ix. 130 Upon the loss of the Atlanta, rebel defenders of Savannah turned to another armor-clad named the Georgia.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1768