armful

Etymology

soldier with an armful of bottles of water.]] From arm + -ful (suffix forming nouns indicating as much as can be held by the noun to which it is attached).

noun

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; … 1670, [Joseph Blagrave], “How to Order an Orchard that It shall Never Misse Bearing”, in New Additions to the Art of Husbandry. …, London: […] Benjamin Billingsley,[…], →OCLC, page 45
   [T]hough Pyrocles and Muſidorus at other times would diſpence with the length of the ſports, yet now, in reſpect of the armfuls of joys they were to expect in bed, they thought them tedious; … 1724, R[ichard] B[ellings], “A Sixth Book to The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia”, in Philip Sidney, The Works of the Honourable Sir Philip Sidney, Kt., volume III, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, page 53
   [I]t was thus the passion of Mr. Panton allayed its overflowings: for very shortly after his marriage, he again fell passionately in love with another lady; a bona roba Queen, the full head taller than himself, and more than an armfull. 1812, Kate Mont Albion [pseudonym; Catharine Bayley], A Set-down at Court; […] In Four Volumes, volume I, London: […] Allen & Co.,[…], →OCLC, pages 30–31
   We have here a handful—an armful would be nearer the truth—on poems on scriptural and sacred subjects. 1 July 1837, “Our Library Table”, in The Athenæum: Journal of Literature, Science, and the Fine Arts, number 505, London: […] J[ohn] Francis. …, →OCLC, page 481, column 3
   In the morning they [sticks of tobacco] should be gathered up and placed in armfuls in a box made of twigs or slats from whence they should be taken for assorting, which should be in done a sheltered place. 25 August 1846, Julian Silveyra, “Appendix No. 9. Method of Cultivation and Cure of Cuba Tobacco, as Practised in Cuba and the Other West India Islands.”, in James S. Peacocke, transl., Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents for the Year 1847 (30th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives; ex. doc. no. 54), Washington, D.C.: […] Wendell and Van Benthuysen, published 3 March 1848, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 436
   "Oh, yes, yes, Mary; give Aunt Becky a few sticks of wood, so she can get through with her washing." / "Well, how many sticks, father?" / "Oh, give her an armful; give her an armful, my child." / "An armful, father? what, my armful or her armful?" / "Why her armful, of course, child." / "Well, how big an armful? or how many sticks, father?" / "Why, my child, give her as much as she can carry in her arms." 1856 August, “Aunt Becky’s Load of Wood”, in The United States Magazine, volume III, number 2, New York, N.Y.: J. M. Emerson & Co., →OCLC, pages 153–154
   I left the plane with two armfuls of groceries, a gun, searchlight, and other things. It wasn't until I was 500 feet down that I realized the problem of pulling the ripcord with my arms full. 1943 September, “Tokyo Bomber Hero is Italian Prisoner”, in George Starr Lasher, editor, The Rattle of Theta Chi, volume XXXII, number 1, Athens, Oh.: Theta Chi Fraternity, →OCLC, page 30, column 3
   When Vernon came in from work, he always brought me wildflowers he had found, an armsful of tiger lilies, bluebells, and white daisies. 1986 December, Adele Sarkissian, editor, Something About the Author (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought; Autobiography Series; 1), Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., page 66
   Naomi Levine made a movie wherein little kids swatted each other with armsfuls of huge white flowers. 1992, Film Culture, New York, N.Y.: Film Culture, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 23
   At one point, a man who looks after lost property for London Transport asks himself what the ‘armfuls and armfuls’ of mislaid umbrellas say about Britain: ‘It says caution, it says preparation, it says pragmatism. Quiet, ordered lives in which nothing could be more distressing than to get rained on. The umbrella, the safety net of the nation’ …. 2011, Aleks Sierz, Rewriting the Nation: British Theatre Today, London: Methuen Drama, A & C Black Publishers, page 212