alarm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈlɑːm/
ipa: /əˈlɑɹm/
note: Indic
ipa: /əˈlɑ(rə)m/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m
Forms: form: alarms
form: alarum
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”).
Senses: examples: text: Arming to answer in a night alarm.
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: A summons to arms, as on the approach of an enemy.
examples: text: Sound an alarm in my holy mountain.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joel 2:1:
text: 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.
ref: 1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House:
glosses: Any sound or information intended to give notice of approaching danger; a warning sound to arouse attention; a warning of danger.
examples: text: The fire alarm is located high on the wall to prevent tampering.
glosses: A device intended to warn or give notice of approaching danger.
examples: text: Lord Marshal, command our officers-at-arms
Be ready to direct these home alarms.
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
text: Is it then true, as distant rumours run,
that crowds of rivals for thy mother's charms
thy Palace fill with insults and alarms?
ref: 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page III:
glosses: A sudden attack; a disturbance.
examples: text: Alarm and resentment spread through the camp.
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
glosses: Sudden surprise with fear or terror excited by apprehension of danger; in the military use, commonly, sudden apprehension of being attacked by surprise.
examples: text: The clock radio is a friendlier version of the cold alarm by the bedside.
glosses: A mechanical device for awaking people, or rousing their attention.
examples: text: You should set the alarm on your watch to go off at seven o'clock.
glosses: An instance of an alarm ringing, beeping or clanging, to give a noise signal at a certain time.
Derived terms: alarmable
alarm bell
alarm-bell
alarm clock
alarm fatigue
alarm gauge
alarmism
alarmistic
alarmless
alarmone
alarm reaction
alarm substance
alarm system
baby alarm
bedwetting alarm
burglar alarm
car alarm
carbon monoxide alarm
door alarm
false alarm
fauxcellarm
fire alarm
five-alarm
heat alarm
hustle alarm
multialarm
nonalarm
radio alarm
raise the alarm
rape alarm
realarm
silent alarm
smoke alarm
sound the alarm
sprinkler alarm
state of alarm
still alarm
Related terms: tocsin