shoulder arms

noun

a position or command in the manual of arms in which one places a rifle on the either left or right shoulder, with the forearm parallel to the ground and the hand holding the butt.

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Meanings

nounshoulder arms (plural shoulder arms)
  1. governmenta position or command in the manual of arms in which one places a rifle on the either left or right shoulder, with the forearm parallel to the ground and the hand holding the butt.
  2. Commonwealthgovernmenta military command in which one places a rifle in the side of the flank and gripped by either left or right hand.
verbshoulder arms (third-person singular simple present shoulders arms, present participle shouldering arms, simple past and past participle shouldered arms)

present singular third person shoulders arms · participle present shouldering arms · participle past shouldered arms · past shouldered arms

  1. intransitivegovernmentOf a soldier at drill, to place a rifle on the right shoulder, with the forearm parallel to the ground and the hand holding the butt.
  2. CommonwealthintransitivegovernmentOf a soldier at drill, to place a rifle in the side of the flank and gripped by either left or right hand.
  3. intransitiveball gamesTo deliberately lift the bat out of the path of the ball when it is judged to be missing the wicket.
Cite this entry
APA

shoulder arms. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoulder%20arms

MLA

“shoulder arms.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoulder%20arms. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shoulder arms,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shoulder%20arms.

Source: shoulder arms on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.