arms bearer

plural arms bearers

1. Alternative form of arms-bearer.
   1. One who carries weapons for another.

      The scene shows two hoplites to the right. A young arms bearer follows his superior.

      1996, Gisela Schneider-Herrmann, Edward Herring, The Samnites of the fourth century BC

      2 more examples

      Study the passage below in which King Saul, about to lose a battle, asks his arms bearer to kill him.

      2003, Susan Freeman, Teaching Hot Topics: Jewish Values, Resources, and Activities, →ISBN

      In this brief article, dedicated in friendship to Sy Gitin, I will discuss the job of the arms bearer and show that, as usual, my wife was right!

      2007, Sidnie White Crawford, Amnon Ben-Tor, "Up to the gates of Ekron": essays on the archaeology and history of the eastern Mediterranean in honor of Seymour Gitin

   2. An armed fighter.

      He had called on arms bearers to go to the aid of their brethren in the Holy Land and to liberate the Christian holy sites from the heathen.

      2001, Jonathan Riley-Smith, The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, →ISBN, page 141

      2 more examples

      What worried the arms bearers was that Saftawi had not worked out his program with Arafat, but with Egypt and Rabin, and briefed Arafat only later.

      1996, Pinhas Inbari, The Palestinians between terrorism and statehood, page 239

      To distinguish them from other arms bearers, soldiers in the narrower sense have only been commonly referred to since the French Revolution.

      2011, Irving Louis Horowitz, Culture & Civilization, Volume 4: Religion in the Shadows of Modernity, →ISBN