alarm [LME] Alarm started out as an exclamation meaning ‘to arms!’; it stems from Old French alarme, from the Italian phrase all’ arme! ‘to arms!’. The spelling alarum existed in English in early times because of the way the ‘r’ was rolled when pronouncing the word; this form became restricted specifically to the peal of a warning bell or clock [L16th]. The original exclamation as a call to arms, is seen in the phrase alarums and excursions, a stage direction found in Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Richard III.