chain mailnoun [ U ]
uk/ˈtʃeɪn ˌmeɪl/us/ˈtʃeɪn ˌmeɪl/also mailsmall metal rings that have been joined together to look like cloth. It was used in the past to protect the body of a soldier from injury when fighting.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Arms & munitions in general
- air-to-air
- air-to-ground
- ammo
- ammunition
- anti-aircraft
- arsenal
- battering ram
- battledress
- breastplate
- bulletproof
- catapult
- CS gas
- mustard gas
- nerve gas
- poison gas
- sarin
- stab vest
- strategic
- strategic weapon
- tear gas
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Examples from literature
- At Ashwell, Rutland, is an effigy in wood of a cross-legged knight, also in chain mail, if I remember rightly.
- At the end of the room is a Persian horse armour of brass scales connected by chain mail.
- I said that he wore a steel cap, with a gilt iron spike of six inches, and a hood of chain mail.
- In the cases on the right hand are specimens of chain mail in form of hoods, coats, sleeves, etc, mostly, if not all, of Eastern origin.
- It is the fear which never leaves him—the fear that makes him wear a doublet so thickly quilted that it would suffice to turn the sharpest blade, even as a suit of chain mail.