shield
Meanings
- 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.
- One who protects or defends.
- In lichens, a hardened cup or disk surrounded by a rim and containing the fructification, or asci.
- A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.
- A field of energy that protects or defends.
- 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.
- A toilet seat.
- A spot resembling, or having the form of a shield.
- A coin, the old French crown, or écu, having on one side the figure of a shield.
- A sign or symbol, usually containing numbers and sometimes letters, identifying a highway route.
- To protect, to defend.
- To shelter; to protect oneself.
- To protect from the influence of.
- A surname.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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”). Cognates Cognate with West Frisian skyld (“shield”), Bavarian Schuid (“shield”), Dutch schild (“shield”), German and Low German Schild (“shield”), Luxembourgish Schëld (“shield”), Yiddish שילד (shild, “shield”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk skjold (“shield”), Elfdalian stjöld (“shield”), Faroese skjøldur (“shield”), Gutnish skiåld (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”), Swedish sköld (“shield”), Gothic 𐍃𐌺𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌿𐍃 (skildus, “shield”). Compare Breton skoed (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Scottish Gaelic sgiath (“shield”), Latin scūtum (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Belarusian шчыт (ščyt, “shield”), Bulgarian, Russian, and Ukrainian щит (ščyt, “shield”), Czech and Slovak štít (“shield”), Macedonian штит (štit, “shield”), Polish szczyt (“shield”), Serbo-Croatian штит, štit, ščit (“shield”), Slovene ščit (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *skey- (“to dissect, split”).