buckler

[ buhk-ler ]
See synonyms for buckler on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a round shield held by a grip and sometimes having straps through which the arm is passed.

  2. any means of defense; protection.

verb (used with object)
  1. to be a shield to; support; defend.

Origin of buckler

1
1250–1300; Middle English bokeler<Anglo-French, Middle French bocler, equivalent to bocleboss2 + -er-er2

Words Nearby buckler

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use buckler in a sentence

  • The buckler on the shoulders is formed of five or six rows, each composed of large quadrangular pieces.

    Buffon's Natural History. Volume VII (of 10) | Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
  • In other places the rock was damasked like a Saracen buckler, or engraved like a Florentine vase.

    Toilers of the Sea | Victor Hugo
  • It was for no lucre of gain I took you and your swash-buckler, your Don Diego yonder, under my poor roof.

    The Fortunes of Nigel | Sir Walter Scott
  • Here were poor innocent working men, and here was this bloodthirsty swash-buckler inciting their own brothers to slay them.

  • Well, one is a buckler against the other: I don't say with lovely Amy May,—with an honourable woman.

British Dictionary definitions for buckler

buckler

/ (ˈbʌklə) /


noun
  1. a small round shield worn on the forearm or held by a short handle

  2. a means of protection; defence

verb
  1. (tr) archaic to defend

Origin of buckler

1
C13: from Old French bocler, from bocle shield boss; see buckle, boss ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012