shield

[sheeld] /ʃild/

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.

10.

dress shield.

11.

Heraldry. an escutcheon, especially one broad at the top and pointed at the bottom, for displaying armorial bearings.

12.

(initial capital letter) Astronomy. the constellation Scutum.

13.

Also called continental shield. Geology. a vast area of ancient crustal rocks which, together with a platform, constitutes a craton.

14.

a protective barrier against nuclear radiation, especially a lead or concrete structure around a reactor.

verb (used with object)

15.

to protect (someone or something) with or as if with a shield.

16.

to serve as a protection for.

17.

to hide or conceal; protect by hiding.

18.

Obsolete. to avert; forbid.

verb (used without object)

19.

to act or serve as a shield.

Origin

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 forms

shielder, noun

shieldless, adjective

shieldlessly, adverb

shieldlessness, noun

shieldlike, adjective

undershield, noun

unshielded, adjective

unshielding, adjective

Examples from the web for shield

If the crust begins to brown too much before the filling is done, crimp a ring of foil or use a pie shield to protect it.
They also argued that such immunity is intended to shield individual officials, and not governing boards, from liability.
The answer is that he is trapped by an unpopular fiscal rule known as the tax shield.
Runny lava forms a gentle slope called a shield volcano.
But activity on the sun is at its weakest for around a century, weakening this protective shield.
In some cases, it looked as if the police were trying to shield the protesters from the violence.
Personal freedoms must be protected in any legitimate effort to shield society from homicide.
Cohorts of public-relations people surround the bigwigs and shield them from scrutiny.
Now a new study says the structure was linked to the summer solstice-and may have been a symbolic shield against darkness.
The latter is used to actually shield radiation from fuel rods in nuclear power plants.

British Dictionary definitions for shield

shield

/ʃiːld/

noun

any protection used to intercept blows, missiles, etc, such as a tough piece of armour carried on the arm

any similar protective device

(heraldry) Also called scutcheon, escutcheon. 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 continent See 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

10.

(informal) the shield

(Austral) short for the Sheffield Shield
(NZ) short for the Ranfurly Shield

verb

11.

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

Derived Forms

shielder, noun
shieldlike, adjective

Word Origin

Old English scield; related to Old Norse skjöldr, Gothic skildus, Old High German scilt shield, Old English sciellshell

Word Origin and History for 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).

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

shield in Medicine

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

shield 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.

Slang definitions & phrases for shield

shield

noun

A police officer's badge

shield in the Bible

used in defensive warfare, varying at different times and under different circumstances in size, form, and material (1 Sam. 17:7; 2 Sam. 1:21; 1 Kings 10:17; 1 Chr. 12:8, 24, 34; Isa. 22:6; Ezek. 39:9; Nahum 2:3). Used figuratively of God and of earthly princes as the defenders of their people (Gen. 15:1; Deut. 33:29; Ps. 33:20; 84:11). Faith is compared to a shield (Eph. 6:16). Shields were usually "anointed" (Isa. 21:5), in order to preserve them, and at the same time make the missiles of the enemy glide off them more easily.