shield.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
Meaning & usage
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.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. One who protects or defends.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. A featherless, flat, fleshy protuberance on the head; a frontal shield.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. A flattish patch of iridescent feathers.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. A heavily hardened, protective plate on an insect's exoskeleton that covers part of its body.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. In lichens, a hardened cup or disk surrounded by a rim and containing the fructification, or asci.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.
Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection. 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 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. A toilet seat.
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. A spot resembling, or having the form of a shield.
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. A coin, the old French crown, or écu, having on one side the figure of a shield.
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. A sign or symbol, usually containing numbers and sometimes letters, identifying a highway route.
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. A police badge.
A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock. A wide and relatively low-profiled volcano, usually composed entirely of lava flows.
A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.
Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision
A circuit board that can connect to an Arduino microcontroller and extend its capabilities.
Where this word comes from
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”).
To protect, to defend.
Sunscreen shields against the harmful effects of solar rays.
To shelter; to protect oneself.
To protect from the influence of.
Where this word comes from
An alteration of Middle English schilden after Etymology 1, from Old English sċildan, from Proto-West Germanic *skildijan, form Proto-Germanic *skildijaną.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.