port arms

English

Russian sailor at port arms

Verb

port arms (third-person singular simple present ports arms, present participle porting arms, simple past and past participle ported arms)

1. (military, usually as imperative) To carry one's personal firearm diagonally in front of the body.

See also

• at the high port

Noun

port arms (uncountable)

1. (military) The position of a weapon carried diagonally in front of the body.
   • 1989, Peter C. Lagarias, Harrison J. Sheppard, Effective Closing Argument, page 356:

     I think we have to bear in mind that he'd been wrestled with, shot at, been in a wild chase, and now he's being confronted with a person carrying an automatic weapon at port arms.

   • 1990, Stephen King, The Moving Finger:

     At last the battery cover snapped down. Howard strode briskly back through the living room with the hedge-clippers held at port arms.