alarm

Definition

A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.

Etymology

From Middle English alarme, alarom, borrowed from Middle French alarme, itself from Old Italian all'arme! (“to arms!, to the weapons!”), ultimately from Latin arma (“arms, weapons”).

Example Sentences

• "Arming to answer in a night alarm."
• "Sound an alarm in my holy mountain."
• "She went about the house in a state of real terror, and yet lied monstrously and wilfully, and invented many of the alarms she spread, and made many of the sounds we heard."