Webster's 1828 Dictionary
ARMING
ppr. Equipping with arms; providing with the means of defense or attack; also, preparing for resistance in a moral sense.
ARMINGS
n.The same as waist-clothes, hung about a ship's upper works.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
ARMING
ARMING Arm "ing, n.
1. The act of furnishing with, or taking, arms. The arming was now universal. Macaulay.
2. (Naut. )
Defn: A piece of tallow placed in a cavity at the lower end of a sounding lead, to bring up the sand, shells, etc. , of the sea bottom. Totten.
3. pl. (Naut. )
Defn: Red dress cloths formerly hung fore and aft outside of a ship's upper works on holidays. Arming press (Bookbinding ), a press for stamping titles and designs on the covers of books.
The Wordsmith Dictionary