armill

• Armill, armil, armilla

From Middle French armille, from Latin armilla (“bracelet”). Doublet of armilla.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːmɪl/, /ˈɑːməl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹmɪl/, /ˈɑɹməl/

armill (plural armills)

1. A bracelet used in royal coronations, especially that of the monarch of the United Kingdom (symbolically known as a "bracelet of wisdom and sincerity")
   • 2014 November 18, Stubba, The Book of Blots‎, page 102:

     The Candidate for membership of Hof, Garth or Hearth shall hold an Armill, or he may touch an unsheathed Sword throughout the ceremony.

2. A silken stole worn around the neck by royalty.
   • 1727, The Form and Order of Their Majeſties Coronation‎, John Baskett, page 43:

     Then the King ariſing, the Dean of Weſtminſter takes the Armill from the Maſter of the great Wardrobe , and putteth it about His Majeſty's Neck […]

   • 1921, Frank Warner, The Silk Industry of the United Kingdom: Its Origin and Development‎, Drane's, page 549:

     Enough cloth of gold had therefore to be prepared for these purposes, and the Armill is of especial interest, as it introduced all the emblems of the daughter nations for the first time into ceremonial use on such an occasion.

   • 1953, The Coronation Service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II‎, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, →ISBN, page 21:

     In 1911 and 1937, the equivalent division was entitled The Investing with the Armill and Royal Robe, and the Delivery of the Orb.

3. (historical, astronomy) An ancient astronomical instrument, having either one ring placed in the plane of the equator for determining the time of the equinoxes (an equinoctial armil) or two or more rings, one in the plane of the meridian, for observing the solstices (a solstitial armil).

   Synonym: armillary sphere

   • 1840, William Whewell, “Introduction”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, part II (Of Knowledge), book XIII (Of Methods Employed in the Formation of Science), paragraph 5, page 489:

     The Armill, Astrolabe, Dioptra, and Parallactic Instrument of the ancients were some of the instruments thus constructed.

   • 1856, Hannah M. Bouvier, Familiar Astronomy, or an Introduction to the Study of the Heavens‎, page 328:

     This instrument was called an equinoctial armil. Observations taken in this manner must necessarily be very inaccurate, owing to the refraction.

   • 1970, Philip Khuri Hitti, History of the Arabs‎, 10th edition, →ISBN, page 378:

     The instruments at this observatory were much admired and included an armillary sphere, a mural quadrant and a solstitial armil.

4. (obsolete) Any bracelet or armlet.

• The Coronation Service of her Majestry Queen Elizabeth II, CUP Archive, →ISBN, p. 31-32.

• Millar