shield
[sheeld]
- 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.
- a similar device, often of lightweight plastic, used by riot police to protect themselves from rocks and other thrown objects.
- something shaped like a shield, variously round, octagonal, triangular, or somewhat heart-shaped.
- a person or thing that protects.
- a police officer's, detective's, or sheriff's badge.
- Ordnance. a steel screen attached to a gun to protect its crew, mechanism, etc.
- Mining. a movable framework for protecting a miner from cave-ins, etc.
- 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.
- Zoology. a protective plate or the like on the body of an animal, as a scute, enlarged scale, etc.
- dress shield.
- Heraldry. an escutcheon, especially one broad at the top and pointed at the bottom, for displaying armorial bearings.
- (initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Scutum.
- Also called continental shield. Geology. a vast area of ancient crustal rocks which, together with a platform, constitutes a craton.
- a protective barrier against nuclear radiation, especially a lead or concrete structure around a reactor.
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- to protect (someone or something) with or as if with a shield.
- to serve as a protection for.
- to hide or conceal; protect by hiding.
- Obsolete. to avert; forbid.
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- to act or serve as a shield.
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Origin of shield
before 900; (noun) Middle English shelde, Old English sceld; cognate with Dutch, German Schild, Gothic skildus; (v.) Middle English shelden, Old English sceldan, scildan, derivative of the noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for shielding
Contemporary Examples
Shielding students from the cissexism of the Western canon was too silly even for Oberlin.
The man next to him held a large piece of cardboard above his head, shielding his face from the baking sun.
Teachers showed uncommon courage, shielding their students with their bodies and speaking to them about love.
Instead, the government is shielding the industry from liability and helping keep the scope of the deaths secret.
Lohan was supposedly spotted outside of a nightclub in the back of an SUV after her hearing, shielding herself with a blanket.
Historical Examples
I knew he thought young Porter had taken it and was shielding him.
ThoroughbredsW. A. Fraser
"They march badly--badly," he said, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Reluctantly, I drew my head from beneath the shielding hood.
I can't thank you enough for shielding us all these years; there's no use in my trying.
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
Anita was beside him, shielding him with her own body from the rain of blows.
The Finding of HaldgrenCharles Willard Diffin
shield
- any protection used to intercept blows, missiles, etc, such as a tough piece of armour carried on the arm
- any similar protective device
- Also called: scutcheon, escutcheon heraldry a pointed stylized shield used for displaying armorial bearings
- anything that resembles a shield in shape, such as a prize in a sports competition
- the protective outer covering of an animal, such as the shell of a turtle
- physics a structure of concrete, lead, etc, placed around a nuclear reactor or other source of radiation in order to prevent the escape of radiation
- a broad stable plateau of ancient Precambrian rocks forming the rigid nucleus of a particular continentSee Baltic Shield, Canadian Shield
- short for dress shield
- civil engineering a hollow steel cylinder that protects men driving a circular tunnel through loose, soft, or water-bearing ground
- the shield informal
- Australian short for the Sheffield Shield
- NZ short for the Ranfurly Shield
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- (tr) to protect, hide, or conceal (something) from danger or harm
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Word Origin
Old English scield; related to Old Norse skjöldr, Gothic skildus, Old High German scilt shield, Old English sciell shell
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
Word Origin and History for shielding
shield
n.
Old English scield, scild "shield; protector, defense," literally "board," from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (cf. Old Norse skjöldr, Old Saxon skild, Middle Dutch scilt, Dutch schild, German Schild, Gothic skildus), from *skel- "divide, split, separate," from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) "to cut" (see scale (n.1)). Perhaps the notion is of a flat piece of wood made by splitting a log. Shield volcano (1911) translates German Schildvulkan (1910). Plate tectonics sense is from 1906, translating Suess (1888).
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shield
v.
Old English gescildan, from the root of shield (n.). Related: Shielded; shielding. Cf. German scilden.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
shield
(shēld)- A protective device or structure, such as a lead sheet to protect an individual from x-rays.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
shield
[shēld]
- 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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.