Officers laid arms all over the place (8)
I believe the answer is:
admirals
'officers' is the definition.
(admiral is a kind of officer)
'laid arms all over the place' is the wordplay.
'all over the place' is an anagram indicator.
'laid'+'arms'='laidarms'
'laidarms' anagrammed gives 'ADMIRALS'.
(Other definitions for admirals that I've seen before include "Officers" , "Supreme commanders of fleets" , "Supreme fleet commanders" .)