shield

[sheeld]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR shield ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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.

verb (used with object)

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.

verb (used without object)

to act or serve as a shield.

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

Related formsshield·er, nounshield·less, adjectiveshield·less·ly, adverbshield·less·ness, nounshield·like, adjectiveun·der·shield, nounun·shield·ed, adjectiveun·shield·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for shields

armor, buffer, safeguard, shelter, bulwark, defend, cover, conceal, screen, armament, guard, defense, aegis, escutcheon, rampart, mail, ward, security, absorber, bumper

Examples from the Web for shields

Contemporary Examples of shields

The cap devices on thousands of identical hats glinted in the late morning sun along with the shields worn by each of the cops.
Choking Back Tears, Thousands of Cops Honor Fallen Officer Ramos
Michael Daly
December 28, 2014
Riot police eventually converged from the flanks, hundreds at first, then hundreds more, with shields and batons.
Mexican Protesters Look to Start a New Revolution
Jason McGahan
November 21, 2014
Like any good suspense novelist, Shields is a master of evasion and sleight-of-hand.
Carol Shields’s Tale Of Secondhand Life
Nathaniel Rich
October 26, 2014
By 15, Shields was saying: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins” in an advert for Calvin Klein underwear.
In Defense of American Apparel: Why a Hitched-Up Skirt Barely Conceals a Profound Social Confusion
Tim Teeman
August 8, 2014
Shields was photographed nude when she was 10, the photograph later used in an artwork by Richard Prince.
In Defense of American Apparel: Why a Hitched-Up Skirt Barely Conceals a Profound Social Confusion
Tim Teeman
August 8, 2014

Historical Examples of shields

From the shields, there is not one of these vessels which hath not knight or baron aboard.
The White Company
Arthur Conan Doyle
She saw the war-caps, shields, and war-coats, and her heart sank.
The Monster Men
Edgar Rice Burroughs
You will now, on opening them, have two shields, as in Fig. 2.
Harper's Young People, October 26, 1880
Various
Now paste one of these shields in the centre of your yellow window-pane.
Harper's Young People, October 26, 1880
Various
The Iroquois had shields of hide stretched on hoop for defensive armor.
Harper's Young People, July 6, 1880
Various

British Dictionary definitions for shields

Shields

noun

Carol (Ann). 1935–2003, Canadian novelist and writer, born in the US; her novels include Happenstance (1980), The Stone Diaries (1995), and Unless (2002)

shield

noun

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

verb

(tr) to protect, hide, or conceal (something) from danger or harm

Derived Formsshielder, nounshieldlike, adjective

Word Origin for shield

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 shields

shield

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).

shield

Old English gescildan, from the root of shield (n.). Related: Shielded; shielding. Cf. German scilden.

shields in Medicine

shield

[shēld]

n.

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

shields in Science

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.