SHIELD • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Shield

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/ʃild/ Listen

noun

Shield n.

1.

A broad piece of defensive armor, carried on the arm, formerly in general use in war, for the protection of the body. See Buckler. "Now put your shields before your hearts and fight, With hearts more proof than shields."

2.

Anything which protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. "My council is my shield."

3.

Figuratively, one who protects or defends. "Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward."

4.

(Bot.) In lichens, a Hardened cup or disk surrounded by a rim and containing the fructification, or asci.

5.

(Her.) The escutcheon or field on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms. Cf. Lozenge.

6.

(Mining & Tunneling) A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.

7.

A spot resembling, or having the form of, a shield. "Bespotted as with shields of red and black."

8.

A coin, the old French crown, or écu, having on one side the figure of a shield. (Obs.)

Shield fern (Bot.), any fern of the genus Aspidium, in which the fructifications are covered with shield-shaped indusia; called also wood fern.

verb

Shield v. t. (past & past part. shielded; pres. part. shielding)

1.

To cover with, or as with, a shield; to cover from danger; to defend; to protect from assault or injury. "Shouts of applause ran ringing through the field, To see the son the vanquished father shield." "A woman's shape doth shield thee."

2.

To ward off; to keep off or out. "They brought with them their usual weeds, fit to shield the cold to which they had been inured."

3.

To avert, as a misfortune; hence, as a supplicatory exclamation, forbid! (Obs.) "God shield that it should so befall." "God shield I should disturb devotion!"

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Etymology of 'Shield'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Shield" Quotes from Famous Books

... one of the followers of the Earl of Surrey in his expedition across the Scottish border in 1542. Two of the family about this period were "Knights Companions of the Garter," and their banners, with the Lee arms above, were suspended in St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. The coat-of-arms was a shield "band sinister battled and embattled," the crest a closed visor surmounted by a squirrel holding a nut. The motto, which may be thought characteristic of one of General Lee's traits as a ...

— A Life of Gen. Robert E. Lee • John Esten Cooke

... three tall trees, a party, consisting of five individuals, engages in the pleasures of the chase. Four of the five are accoutred like Greek soldiers; they wear crested helmets, cuirasses, belts, and a short tunic ending in a fringe: the arms which they carry are a spear and a round buckler or shield. The fifth person is an archer, and has a lighter equipment; he wears a cloth about his loins, a short tunic, and a round cap on his head. The design forms itself into two groups. On the right two of the spearmen are engaged with a wild boar, which ...

— History of Phoenicia • George Rawlinson

... relaxing in front, and were [at the same time] pressing hard on both flanks; he perceived also that the affair was at a crisis; and that there was not any reserve which could be brought up; having therefore snatched a shield from one of the soldiers in the rear (for he himself had come without a shield), he advanced to the front of the line, and addressing the centurions by name, and encouraging the rest of the soldiers, he ordered them to carry forward the standards, ...

— The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to prose. Volume II (of X) - Rome • Various

... entered the camp they saw that the woman was sitting up. She looked as though she could not have stood much more. In spite of all the Adirondack guide may have done in trying to shield her from the torrents of rain, she had been wet through and through. Even sitting close to the fire for a long time had not caused ...

— Phil Bradley's Mountain Boys - The Birch Bark Lodge • Silas K. Boone

... circumstance in honour of his sovereign, has given this story as a medallion on one of the compartments of the great gallery at Versailles. France appears with a stately air, shewing to Rome the design of the pyramid; and Rome, though bearing a shield marked S.P.Q.R. receives the design with most ...

— Boswell's Correspondence with the Honourable Andrew Erskine, and His Journal of a Tour to Corsica • James Boswell

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