master-at-arms

1. 1.

   the senior petty officer; responsible for discipline aboard ship

   Broaderpetty officer

Questions about master-at-arms

What does master-at-arms mean?

master-at-arms means "the senior petty officer; responsible for discipline aboard ship".

How many syllables are in master-at-arms?

master-at-arms has 4 syllables: ma-ste-r-a-t-arms. The stress falls on "ste".

Is master-at-arms a common word?

master-at-arms is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.