shield

UK: /ˈʃiːld/ US: /ʃild/ ,(shēld)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

shield /ʃild/  n. [countable]

1. Heraldry, a device used as a defense against blows, esp. a broad piece of armor carried on the arm.
2. a person or thing that defends, as from injury:
   the heat shield on the space capsule.
3. something shaped like a shield, such as the badge of a police officer:
   The officer flashed his shield.

v. [~ + object]

4. to protect with or as if with a shield:
   to shield her children from the truth.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

shield  (shēld), n. 

1. Heraldry 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.
2. a similar device, often of lightweight plastic, used by riot police to protect themselves from rocks and other thrown objects.
3. something shaped like a shield, variously round, octagonal, triangular, or somewhat heart-shaped.
4. a person or thing that protects.
5. a police officer's, detective's, or sheriff 's badge.
6. Military [Ordn.] a steel screen attached to a gun to protect its crew, mechanism, etc.
7. Mining a movable framework for protecting a miner from cave-ins, etc.
8. 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.
9. Zoology a protective plate or the like on the body of an animal, as a scute, enlarged scale, etc.
10. Clothing See dress shield. 
11. Heraldry an escutcheon, esp. one broad at the top and pointed at the bottom, for displaying armorial bearings.
12. Aerospace, Astronomy (cap.) [Astron.] the constellation Scutum.
13. Geology a vast area of ancient crustal rocks which, together with a platform, constitutes a craton.
14. Energy a protective barrier against nuclear radiation, esp. a lead or concrete structure around a reactor.

v.t. 

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. [Obs.] to avert;
    forbid.

v.i. 

19. to act or serve as a shield.

• bef. 900; (noun, nominal) Middle English shelde, Old English sceld; cognate with Dutch, German Schild, Gothic skildus; (verb, verbal) Middle English shelden, Old English sceldan, scildan, derivative of the noun, nominal

shield′er, n. 
shield′less, adj. 
shield′less•ly, adv. 
shield′less•ness, n. 
shield′like′, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

shield / ʃiːld/ noun

1. any protection used to intercept blows, missiles, etc, such as a tough piece of armour carried on the arm
2. any similar protective device
3. Also called: scutcheon, escutcheon a pointed stylized shield used for displaying armorial bearings
4. anything that resembles a shield in shape, such as a prize in a sports competition
5. a structure of concrete, lead, etc, placed around a nuclear reactor or other source of radiation in order to prevent the escape of radiation
6. a broad stable plateau of ancient Precambrian rocks forming the rigid nucleus of a particular continent
   See Baltic Shield, Canadian Shield
7. the shield ⇒
   short for the Sheffield Shield

verb

1. (transitive) to protect, hide, or conceal (something) from danger or harm
2. (intransitive) to avoid social interaction in order to protect oneself against disease

Etymology: Old English scield; related to Old Norse skjöldr, Gothic skildus, Old High German scilt shield, Old English sciell shell

ˈshieldˌlike adjective