Armful
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The amount an arm or arms can hold.
"[T]ake three or four good arms full of muckle Straw, Hay, or Fern, not too wet, not to dry, and obſerving which ſide of the Orchard the Wind blows on, then laying a good armful of muckle in three or four places according to the bigneſs of your Orchard, then get ſome dry ſticks, and having kindled them put an armful of muckle upon the Fire, and it will ſmoak and ſmoother, and the wind will drive the ſmoak through the whole Orchard, continue it till the wind turn out of the Eaſterly quarter, and it will preſerve the Trees and Fruit from blites and all manner of flys and caterpillers, which thoſe ſorts of bliting winds uſually bring; [...]"
- 2 the quantity that can be contained in the arms wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Tom was carrying an armful of books."
Etymology
From arm + -ful (suffix forming nouns indicating as much as can be held by the noun to which it is attached).
More for "armful"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.