shield 
arm, which passeil through rings or straps on its inner 
side, or hung arouiul tlu: neck by a guige or strap. The 
shield of the middle ages was in the tenth century very 
long, pointed at the bottom and rounded at the top. (See 
kite-shield, below.) At later periods it was changed in size 
and shape, becoming shorter and smaller, at first triangu- 
lar and afterward broad, short, and pointed. (See t'-cn, 
and fitting-shield (below).) In the fifteenth century the 
shield proper was relegated to the just, and soon after 
disappeared altogether. (For the hand-shield used for par- 
rying blows, see buckler; for the large shield used in 
sieges, see paviae.) Shields of barbarous peoples differ 
greatly in size, shape, and material: thus, those of the 
peoples of South Africa, made of hide, are nearly six feet 
long; those of the Mussulman nations are much smaller 
and usually round. See also cuts under buckler, enarme, 
hoplite, orle, pavise, pelta, rondache, and gcidwn. 
What signe is the levest 
To haue schape in thi scheld to scheue armes? 
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 3214. 
So to the fight the thick battalions throng, 
Shields urg'd on shields, and men drove men along. 
Pope, Iliad, iv. 485. 
2. Anything that protects or is used as a pro- 
tection, (a) A movable screen, usually of steel, serving 
to protect heavy guns and the gunners while serving them. 
Six-inch Breech-loading Rifle rm the United States Cruiser Atlanta. 
a, shield 
A similar contrivance is used by sappers, (b) In mining, 
a framework erected for the protection of a miner in work- 
ing an adit, pushed forward as the work progresses, (c) 
In submarine work, a construction at the head of a tunnel 
to keep back the silt or clays as the tunnel is advanced. 
In some operations the shield is left permanently in place, 
being covered in by the brickwork that follows close be- 
hind the excavation. 
The work of excavating in the tunnel will be done with 
large steel shields, 22 feet in diameter. 
Sci. Amer., N. 8., LX. 41. 
(d) A fender-plate attached to the share of a corn-plow 
to prevent clods from rolling on to the young plants. 
E. B. Knight, (e) In zool.: (1) A protective or defen- 
sive plate, buckler, or 
cuirass, of some deter- 
minate size, shape, or 
position ; a scute, scu- 
tum, or scntellum : a lo- 
rica ; a carapace : as, the 
shields or bucklers of a 
ganoid fish ; the shields 
of a turtle, an armadillo, 
etc. See cuts under car- 
apace, leaf -roller, scale, 
armadillo, and coluber. 
(2) Some part, place, 
or mark likened to a 
shield; a thyroid forma- 
tion. See cut under lar- 
ynx. (/) In dressmak- 
ing, a piece or strip of 
some repellent fabric used to protect a dress from mud, 
perspiration, etc. : as, a skirt-shield; an arm-shield. 
3. Figuratively, a shelter, protection, or de- 
fense ; a bulwark. 
Fear not, Abram: I arn thy shield, and thy exceeding 
great reward. Gen. xv. 1. 
My counsel is my shield. Shalt., Rich. III., iv. a 66. 
4. In hot., any flat, buckler-like body that is 
fixed by a stalk or pedicel from some part of 
the under surface, as the apothecium in certain 
lichens. (See apotliccinm.) In the Charace/t each of 
the eight flat disk-shaped cells composing the antheridi- 
um is called a shield. See shield-shaped. 
Some of the species of Platanthera . . . have curious con- 
trivances, such as a channelled labellum, lateral shields, 
Ac., compelling moths to insert their proboscides direct- 
ly in front. Danrin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 75. 
5. In her. : (a) The shield-shaped escutcheon 
used for all displays of arms, except when 
..,_.' Europea 
nule (Galtinula chlorofus), (2) Amer- 
ican r.allinulc (Gallinula fateata). 
Kite-shield, Nor- 
in, of loth or nth 
Shields. 
, 
red) , 
second and third gu 
cross silver or white). 
Shields. 
argent, a chevron gules (that is, the field silver and the chevron 
; *, quarterly, first and fourth argent, a chevron gules (as in a), 
nd and third gules, a cross argent (that is, the field red and the 
< silver fir wtiitct. 
borne by women and sometimes by clergy- 
men. See esctitclieoti and JojeMj/e. (6) A bearing 
representing a knightly shield. 6f. A French 
5570 
crown (in French, ecu), so called from its hav- 
ing on one side the figure of a shield. 
He was bounden in a reconyssaunce 
To paye twenty thousand eheeld anon. 
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 331. 
7. The semi-transparent skin of the sides of a 
boar-pig, which is of considerable thickness, 
affording shield-like protection against the at- 
tacks of an adversary : apparently used former- 
ly to furnish a shield for burlesque or mimic 
contests. N. and Q., 2d ser., X. 478. 
He looks like a shield of brawn at Shrovetide, out of date. 
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 4. 
We will drink in helmets, 
And cause the souldier turn his blade to knives, 
To conquer capons, and the stubble goose ; 
No weapons in the age to come be known 
But shield of bacon and the sword of brawn. 
Randolph, Jealous Lovers (1646). (Nam.) 
8. A breed of domestic pigeons, of which there 
are four varieties, black, red, 
blue, and silver. Cephalic, 
cephalothoraeic, frontal, pygal 
shield. See the adjectives. Kite- 
shield, the tall, long-pointed shield 
of the early middle ages. Norman 
shield, a name given to the Irite-ithield. 
Shield a bouche, a shield having 
in its right side or upper right-hand 
corner an opening or indentation for 
the lance or sword-blade. Seebouche, 4. 
Shield of pretense. See pretense, 
and escutcheon of pretense (under es- 
cutcheon). Shield of the Passion, a 
pretended escutcheon in which the 
attributes of the Passion are depicted 
like the bearings of a coat of arms. 
Standing shield, (a) Same aspaeise. 
(b) More properly, a mantlet or wood- 
en bulwark for crossbowmen and the 
like.-Tilting-shield, a shield borne cenYury! 
by a knight in the just or tlltlng-lists. 
shield (sheld), . [Early mod. E. also sheild; < 
ME. sheldeti, schelden, shilden, schilden, schylden, 
srilden, < AS. scitdan, scyldan, gescildan = Icel. 
skjalda, protect, guard, defend, shield; from 
the noun.] I. trans. 1. To protect, defend, or 
shelter from danger, calamity, distress, annoy- 
ance, or the like: as, to shield one from attack; 
to shield one from the sun ; to shield a criminal. 
And shflde hem fro poverte and shonde. 
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 88. 
Shouts of applause ran ringing through the field, 
To see the son the vanquished father shield. 
Drydtn, *neid, x. 1185. 
2f. To ward off. 
They brought with them theyr usual! weedes, fltt to 
sheild the cold, and that continual! frost to which they 
had at home bene enured. Spenser, State of Ireland. 
A cobweb over them they throw, . . . 
To shield the wind if it should blow. 
Drayton, Nymphidia. 
3. To forfend; forbid; avert. [Obsolete or 
archaic.] 
Take what yow list, God shilde that ye spare. 
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 286. 
God shield I should disturb devotion. 
Shale., E. and J., iv. 1. 41. 
II. intmits. To act or serve as a shield; be a 
shelter or protection. 
That schene sayde, that god wyl schylde. 
Alliterative Poems (eA. Morris), 1. 964. 
The truly brave, 
When they behold the brave oppressed with odds, 
Are touch'd with a desire to shield and save. 
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 106. 
shield-animalcule (sheld'an-i-mal'kul), n. An 
infusorian of the family Aspidiscidee. 
shield-backed (sheld'bakt), a. Having a very 
large pronotum extended like a shield over the 
next two thoracic segments : specifically noting 
a group^ of wingless grasshoppers (Locustidie) 
known in the United States as western crickets, 
as of the genera Tliyreonottts and Anabrus. J. 
H. Comstoel: 
shield-bearing (sheld'bar'ing), a. In 2067., hav- 
ing a shield ; scutate or scutigerous ; squamate ; 
loricate; cataphract. 
shield-beetle (sheld'be'tl), n. Any coleopter- 
ous insect of the family CossypMdse. A. Adams, 
Man. Nat, Hist. 
shield-belt (sheld'belt), n. In her., a guige 
used as a bearing. This is rare as an independent 
bearing, but often occurs in connection with a shield, 
which is hung by it from a boss, or held up by a sup- 
porter, human or animal. 
shield-bone (sheld 'bon), n. [< ME. sheeld- 
bone ; < shield + 6oel.] A blade-bone. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
Some of his bones in Warwicke yett 
Within the castle there doe lye : 
One of his sheeld-boiies to this day 
Hangs in the citye of Coventrye. 
Legend of Sir Guy. (Halliwell. ) 
shield-toad 
shield-brooch (sheld'broch), M. A brooch rep- 
resenting a shield. Particularly (a) A small model, 
as of an ancient buckler, (b) At the present time, a more 
elaborate composition, as of a shield surrounded by wea- 
pons, standards, or the like. 
shield-budding (sheld'bud'iug), . Budding 
by means of a T-shaped incision, the most or- 
dinary method; T-budding. See budding, 3. 
shield-bug (sheld'bug), n. A heteropterous in- 
sect of the family Scutelleridee : so called from 
the size of the scutellum. 
shield-centiped (sheld'sen"ti-ped), n. A cen- 
tiped of the family Cermatiidx. See cut under 
. 
shield-crab (sheld'krab), n. Any crab of the 
family Dorippidse. 
shield-dagger (sheld'dag'er), . An imple- 
ment of war carried in the left hand, and serv- 
ing as a buckler and on occasion as an offensive 
weapon ; specifically, a weapon used by certain 
Indian tribes, in which a pair of horns of some 
variety of antelope are secured together by 
crosspieces. It is capable of inflicting formi- 
dable wounds. 
shield-drake (sheld'drak), . Same as shel- 
drake. 
shield-duck (sheld'duk), . Same as sheldrake. 
shielded (shel'ded), a. [< shieW + -ed'A] In 
roo/., shield-bearing; scutigerous; cataphract; 
loricate. See cut under phylloxera-mite. 
shielder (sheTder), n. [< ME. schelder; < shield 
+ -eri.] One who shields, protects, or shel- 
ters. 
shield-fern (sheld'fern), n. Any fern of the 
genus Aspidium: so called from the form of 
the indusium of the fructification. The sori or 
fruit-dots are roundi&h and scattered or arranged in ranks ; 
the indusla are solitary, roundly peltate or kidney-shaped, 
fixed by the middle or edge. For further characterization, 
see Aspidium. Christmas shield-fern, an evergreen 
fern, Aspidium acrostichoides, with rigid lanceolate fronds, 
much used in decoration at Christmas-time. The pinnfe 
are linear-lanceolate, somewhat scythe-shaped or half- 
halberd-shaped at the slightly stalked base, the upper 
ones only fertile. It is a native of eastern North America 
from Canada to Florida. 
shield-gilled (sheld'gild), a. Scutibranchiate. 
/'. P. Carpenter. 
shield-headed (sheld'hed"ed), , Inzool.: (a) 
Stegocephalous, as an amphibian. (6) Pelto- 
cephalous, as a crustacean. 
shield- lantern (sheld'lan'tern), n. A lantern 
so arranged and protected as to throw light 
through an opening in a shield outward, so that 
the bearer of the shield sees his enemy while 
unseen himself : a rare device of the later mid- 
dle ages. 
shieldless (sheld'les), . [< shield + -less.] 
Without shield or protection. 
Are eunuchs, women, children, shieldless quite 
Against attack their own timidity tempts? 
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 235. 
shieldlessly (sheld'les-li), adv. In a shieldless 
manner or condition ; without protection. 
shieldlessness (sheld'les-nes), n. Unprotected 
state or condition. 
shield-louse (sheld'lous), . A scale-insect; 
any coccid, but especially a scale of the sub- 
family Diaspinx. 
shield-plate (sheld'plat), . A plate, usually 
of bronze and circular, thought to have formed 
the nmbo of a circular shield the other parts 
of which have decayed. Such plates are numerous 
in graves of northern Europe ; they are often richly deco- 
rated with circular bands, spiral scrolls, and other de- 
vices. 
shieldrake (shel'drak), . Same as sheldrake. 
shield-reptile (sheld'rep''til), . A shielded 
or cataphract reptile ; a turtle or tortoise ; an 
alligator or crocodile; any member of the Cata- 
phracta. J. E. Gray, Catalogue of the Shield 
Reptiles in the British Museum. 
shield-shaped (sheld'shapt), a. Shaped like a 
shield, or suggesting a shield in figure; scu- 
tate ; peltate ; thyroid. The forms of shields being 
various, the term is equally indefinite ; but in botanical 
use it means, specifically, plane and round or oval, with a 
stalk or support attached to some part of the under sur- 
face, as the leaves of Brasenia, Kelumbium, Hydrocotyle 
umbellata, the indusia of certain ferns (AspitHwri), and 
the apothecia of many lichens. See scutate, peltate, apothe- 
cium, indusium, and cut under larynx. 
shield-ship (sheld'ship), n. A vessel of war 
carrying movable shields to protect the heavy 
guns except at the moment of firing: super- 
seded bv the turret-ship. E. H. Knight. 
shield-slater (sheld'sla'ter), . A cursorial 
isopod of the genus I'asxidiiin. 
shieldtail (sheld'tal), n. A snake of the fam- 
ilv Uropelttdte. 
shield-toad (sheld'tod), . A turtle or tortoise. 
