A side arm is a weapon, usually a pistol but sometimes a dagger or other melee weapon, which is worn on the body in a holster to permit immediate access and use. A side arm is typically required equipment for military personnel and sometimes carried by law enforcement personnel. Usually, uniformed personnel of these services wear their weapons openly, while plainclothes personnel have their side arms concealed under their clothes. A side arm may be carried alone, or as a back-up to a primary weapon such as a rifle or carbine. Most standing army also have service pistols.
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Famous quotes containing the words side and/or arm:
“I had an old axe which nobody claimed, with which by spells in winter days, on the sunny side of the house, I played about the stumps which I had got out of my bean-field. As my driver prophesied when I was plowing, they warmed me twice,—once while I was splitting them, and again when they were on the fire, so that no fuel could give out more heat. As for the axe,... if it was dull, it was at least hung true.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
““O.K., Marlowe,” I said to myself, “you’re a tough guy. You’ve been zapped twice, choked, beaten silly with a gun, shot in the arm until you’re as crazy as a couple of waltzing mice, now let’s see you do something really tough, like putting your pants on.””
—John Paxton (1911–1985)