TAKE UP ARMS Definition & Meaning

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take up arms

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Idioms and Phrases

Also, take up the cudgels . Become involved in a conflict, either physical or verbal, as in The Kurds took up arms against the Iranians at least two centuries ago , or Some believe it's the vice-president's job to take up the cudgels for the president . The first term originated in the 1400s in the sense of going to war. The variant, alluding to cudgels as weapons, has been used figuratively since the mid-1600s and is probably obsolescent.

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

But many have refused to do so without security guarantees, or authorization for locals to take up arms and defend their communities.

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The fighters are led by ethnic Tutsis who say they took up arms to protect the rights of the minority group - and because the Congolese authorities reneged on an earlier peace deal.

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Many of the volunteers who took up arms three years ago have either been killed, maimed, or are too exhausted to fight any more.

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The M23 are led by ethnic Tutsis, who say they needed to take up arms to protect the rights of the minority group.

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Idengo was awaiting trail after his jailing last year for inciting people to take up arms and force UN peacekeepers to leave the country.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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