shield
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ʃiːld/
rhymes: -iːld
Forms: form: shields
Etymology: From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).
Senses: examples: text: Knock go and come; God's vassals drop and die; And sword and shield, In bloody field, Doth win immortal fame.
ref: 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, act III, scene II, line 8:
text: The shields used by our Norman ancestors were the triangular or heater shield, the target or buckler, the roundel or rondache, and the pavais, pavache, or tallevas.
ref: 1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 22:
text: My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: Beowulf, behind his shield, thrust forth only his right arm.
ref: 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 44:
glosses: Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
A broad piece of defensive armor, held in hand, formerly in general use in war, for the protection of the body.
examples: text: Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, King James Version edition, Genesis 15:1:
text: Go muster men. My counsel is my shield; We must be brief when traitors brave the field.
ref: 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, act 4, scene 3, line 56:
glosses: Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
One who protects or defends.
topics: biology
botany
lichenology
natural-sciences
glosses: Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
In lichens, a hardened cup or disk surrounded by a rim and containing the fructification, or asci.
examples: text: The earth was excavated from the sunken cylinder; the shield was inserted into it, and the tunnelling began, the target being Wapping, on the opposite bank. The shield was an iron honeycomb containing thirty-six cells within which men dug the wall of mud before them.
ref: 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 88:
topics: business
mining
glosses: Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.
examples: text: Kinetic barriers, colloquially called "shields", provide protection against most mass accelerator weapons. Whether on a starship or a soldier's suit of armor, the basic principle remains the same.
Kinetic barriers are repulsive mass effect fields projected from tiny emitters. These shields safely deflect small objects traveling at rapid velocities. This affords protection from bullets and other dangerous projectiles, but still allows the user to sit down without knocking away their chair.
ref: 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, →OCLC, PC, scene: Kinetic Barriers ("Shields") Codex entry:
topics: literature
media
publishing
science-fiction
glosses: Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
A field of energy that protects or defends.
examples: text: Meronyms: field, charge, emblem
text: The second and third quarters of the shield are indecipherable on the stone but clearer in two other representations of the arms, a painted wooden funeral hatchment for Mary Davie[…]
ref: 2012 October 8, Daniel W. Patterson, The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 141:
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
The escutcheon on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms.
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
A toilet seat.
examples: text: Bespotted as with shields of red and black.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene:
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
A spot resembling, or having the form of a shield.
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
A coin, the old French crown, or écu, having on one side the figure of a shield.
topics: transport
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
A sign or symbol, usually containing numbers and sometimes letters, identifying a highway route.
examples: text: The chief put something in his hand and Bosch looked down to see the gold detective's shield.
ref: 2005, Michael Connelly, The closers: a novel:
topics: government
law-enforcement
glosses: A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
A police badge.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
topics: geography
geology
natural-sciences
glosses: A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
A wide and relatively low-profiled volcano, usually composed entirely of lava flows.
glosses: A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.
topics: automotive
transport
vehicles
glosses: Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision
Synonyms: word: bathroom
raw_tags: with a toilet seat
Hyponyms: sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: buckler
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: heatshield
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: pavache
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: pavais
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: rondache
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: roundel
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: sunshield
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: tallevas
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: targe
sense: Anything that protects or defends
word: target
Derived terms: sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: armshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: bitch shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: brown-point shield skin longirostris
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: chin shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: dayshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: dress shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: enshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: eyeshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: face shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: faceshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: forceshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: Golden Shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: gumshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: gunshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: headshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: heat shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: human shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: ice and water shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: lantern shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: living shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: lockshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: meat shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: medicine shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: nipple shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: ozone shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: panty shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: pop shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: radial shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: rape shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: riot shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: roundshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: sap shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldable
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield aralia
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldback
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield-backed bug
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield-bearer
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield beetle
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield bug
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shielder
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield fern
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield law
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldless
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldlike
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldmaid
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield-maiden
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldmaiden
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldmaker
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldman
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
taxonomic: Medicago scutellata
word: shield medick
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: Shield of David
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: Shield Row
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield shrimp
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield-skipper
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldsman
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldsmith
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldtail
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield-toad
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield volcano
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shield wall
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldwise
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: shieldwright
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: silicon shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: striped shield bug
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: tailshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: tax shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: unshield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: water-shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: Whipple shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: white shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: wind shield
sense: some may also be hyponyms (unsorted)
word: windshield