shield definition | Dictionary.com

shield

[sheeld]

–noun

1.	a broad piece of armor, varying widely in form and size, carried apart from the body, usually on the left arm, as a defense against swords, lances, arrows, etc.

2.	a similar device, often of lightweight plastic, used by riot police to protect themselves from rocks and other thrown objects.

3.	something shaped like a shield, variously round, octagonal, triangular, or somewhat heart-shaped.

4.	a person or thing that protects.

5.	a police officer's, detective's, or sheriff's badge.

6.	Ordnance. a steel screen attached to a gun to protect its crew, mechanism, etc.

7.	Mining. a movable framework for protecting a miner from cave-ins, etc.

8.	Electricity. a covering, usually made of metal, placed around an electric device or circuit in order to reduce the effects of external electric and magnetic fields.

9.	Zoology. a protective plate or the like on the body of an animal, as a scute, enlarged scale, etc.

10.	dress shield.

11.	Heraldry. an escutcheon, esp. one broad at the top and pointed at the bottom, for displaying armorial bearings.

12.	(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Scutum.

13.	Also called continental shield. Geology. a vast area of ancient crustal rocks which, together with a platform, constitutes a craton.

14.	a protective barrier against nuclear radiation, esp. a lead or concrete structure around a reactor.

–verb (used with object)

15.	to protect (someone or something) with or as if with a shield.

16.	to serve as a protection for.

17.	to hide or conceal; protect by hiding.

18.	Obsolete. to avert; forbid.

–verb (used without object)

19.	to act or serve as a shield.

Origin:
bef. 900; (n.) ME shelde, OE sceld; c. D, G Schild, Goth skildus; (v.) ME shelden, OE sceldan, scildan, deriv. of the n.

Related forms:

shielder, noun

shieldless, adjective

shield⋅less⋅ly, adverb

shield⋅less⋅ness, noun

shieldlike, adjective

dress shield

–noun

a fabric or plastic pad for attaching to the inside of the underarm of a woman's garment to protect the garment from being soiled by perspiration.

Also called shield.

Origin:
1880–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To shield

shield (shēld)

A broad piece of armor made of rigid material and strapped to the arm or carried in the hand for protection against hurled or thrusted weapons.
A person or thing that provides protection.
A protective device or structure, as:
1. A steel sheet attached to an artillery piece to protect gunners from small-arms fire and shrapnel.
2. Physics A wall or housing of concrete or lead built around a nuclear reactor to prevent the escape of radiation.
3. Electronics A structure or arrangement of metal plates or mesh designed to protect a piece of electronic equipment from electrostatic or magnetic interference.
4. A pad worn, as at the armpits, to protect a garment from perspiration.
5. A sanitary napkin.
6. An escutcheon.
7. A decorative emblem that often serves to identify an organization or a government.
8. A police officer's badge.
Zoology A protective plate or similar hard outer covering; a scute or scutellum.
Something that resembles a shield, as:
1. An escutcheon.
2. A decorative emblem that often serves to identify an organization or a government.
3. A police officer's badge.
Geology The ancient, stable, interior layer of continents composed of primarily Precambrian igneous or metamorphic rocks. Also called continental shield.

v. shield·ed, shield·ing, shields

v. tr.

To protect or defend with or as if with a shield; guard. See Synonyms at defend.
To cover up; conceal.

v. intr.
To act or serve as a shield or safeguard.

[Middle English sheld, from Old English scield; see skel-¹ in Indo-European roots.]
shield'er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Shield

Shield\, n. [OE. sheld, scheld, AS. scield, scild, sceld, scyld; akin to OS. scild, OFries. skeld, D. & G. schild, OHG. scilt, Icel. skj["o]ldr, Sw. sk["o]ld, Dan. skiold, Goth. skildus; of uncertain origin. Cf. Sheldrake.]

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. --Shak.

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

3. Figuratively, one who protects or defends.

Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. --Gen. xv. 1.

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. See Illust. of Escutcheon.

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." --Spenser.

8. A coin, the old French crown, or ['e]cu, having on one side the figure of a shield. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

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

Shield

Shield\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Shielded; p. pr. & vb. n. Shielding.] [AS. scidan, scyldan. See Shield, n.]

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. --Dryden.

A woman's shape doth shield thee. --Shak.

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. --Spenser.

3. To avert, as a misfortune; hence, as a supplicatory exclamation, forbid! [Obs.]

God shield that it should so befall. --Chaucer.

God shield I should disturb devotion! --Shak.

Language Translation for : shield

Spanish: escudo,

German: das Schild,

Japanese: 盾

More Translations »

shield

O.E. scield, scild, related to sciell (see shell), from P.Gmc. *skeldus (cf. O.N. skjöldr, O.S. skild, M.Du. scilt, Du. schild, Ger. Schild, Goth. skildus), from base *skel- "divide, split, separate," from PIE base *(s)kel- "to cut." Perhaps the notion is of a flat piece of wood made by splitting a log. The verb is from O.E. gescildan. Shield volcano (1911) translates Ger. Schildvulkan (1910).

Main Entry: shield
Pronunciation: 'shEld
Function: noun
: a structure, device, or part that serves as a protective cover or barrier shieldto protect against X rays>

shield (shēld)
n.
A protective device or structure, such as a lead sheet to protect an individual from x-rays.

shield (shēld) Pronunciation Key

A wall or housing of an absorbing material, such as concrete or lead, built around a nuclear reactor to prevent the escape of radiation.
A structure or arrangement of metal plates or mesh designed to protect a piece of electronic equipment from electrostatic or magnetic interference.
A large geographic area where rocks of a continent's craton (the ancient, relatively undisturbed portion of a continental plate) are visible at the surface. A shield is often surrounded by platforms covered with sediment.

Shield

used in defensive warfare, varying at different times and under different circumstances in size, form, and material (1 Sam. 17:7; 2 Sam. 1:21; 1 Kings 10:17; 1 Chr. 12:8, 24, 34; Isa. 22:6; Ezek. 39:9; Nahum 2:3). Used figuratively of God and of earthly princes as the defenders of their people (Gen. 15:1; Deut. 33:29; Ps. 33:20; 84:11). Faith is compared to a shield (Eph. 6:16). Shields were usually "anointed" (Isa. 21:5), in order to preserve them, and at the same time make the missiles of the enemy glide off them more easily.

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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