I had the general gist of what armistice meant, but I looked it up to check.

• Oxford: an agreement made by opposing sides in a war to stop fighting for a certain time; a truce.
• Collins: a temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement of the warring parties; truce.

I’m glad I did check, because I hadn’t previously understood the temporary aspect of its meaning. I had thought it meant something like ‘peace agreement’.

This led me to look up Armistice Day, where I discovered that the original armistice agreement, signed on 11 November 1918, was indeed temporary. Initially agreed for just 36 days, it was extended three times to enable peace negotiations to continue, culminating in the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919.

In turn, this prompted me to investigate whether Remembrance Day and Armistice Day were one and the same; they’re not. Remembrance Sunday falls on the second Sunday of November, and commemorates all those who have died in the line of duty. Whereas Armistice Day is always on 11 November, and commemorates the signing of the Armistice that brought an end to the First World War.

However, Armistice Day is often now called Remembrance Day, and sometimes even falls on the same day. In America it’s called Veterans Day, and honours all of the country’s military veterans.

I feel slightly sheepish about not having known these subtleties, but I do now, and that’s why I look things up.