Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SHIELD, n. [Sax. scyld; Sw. sköld; Dan. skiold, skildt; D. and G. schild. This word is from covering, defending, Sw. skyla, to cover; or from separating, Sax. scylan, Dan. skiller, to separate. Protection is deduced from either, and indeed both may be radically one. See Shelter. The L. scutum coincides in elements with the Sax. sceadan, to separate, and clypeus with the Gr. καλυπτω, to cover.]

1. A broad piece of defensive armor; a buckler; used in war for the protection of the body. The shields of the ancients were of different shapes and sizes, triangular, square, oval, &c., made of leather, or wood covered with leather, and borne on the left arm. This species of armor was a good defense against arrows, darts, spears, &c. but would be no protection against bullets.
2. Defense; shelter; protection; or the person that defends or protects; as a chief, the ornament and shield of the nation. Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. – Gen. xv.
3. In heraldry, the escutcheon or field on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms.