shield
- 01 B1 Intermediate
n.a piece of equipment used to stop someone or something from hurting you.
n.a broad piece of defensive armour carried on the arm; by extension, any physical barrier designed to intercept or deflect attacks.
Simple“The knight held up his wooden shield to block the arrows.”
In context“Riot police formed a wall with their transparent shields to prevent the protesters from advancing toward the government building.”
Synonyms - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a shape that looks like a triangle with curved sides, often used for police badges or logos.
n.a heraldic or geometric shape resembling a traditional shield, typically an inverted triangle with curved sides.
Simple“The school's logo is a blue shield with a gold book in the middle.”
In context“The family's coat of arms was meticulously engraved upon a silver shield, displayed prominently above the fireplace in the Great Hall.”
- 03 C2 Proficiency
n.a very large, flat area of very old, hard rock.
n.a large area of exposed Precambrian crystalline igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks that form tectonically stable areas.
Simple“The Canadian Shield covers a huge part of North America.”
In context“The geological survey focused on the edge of the shield, where the ancient stable rock meets younger sedimentary layers.”
Synonymscraton - 04 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to protect someone or something from something dangerous or unpleasant.
v.to protect or hide someone or something from danger, criticism, or unpleasant influences.
Simple“She used her hand to shield her eyes from the bright sun.”
In context“The thick concrete walls were designed to shield the laboratory equipment from external electromagnetic interference.”
- 05 B2 Upper Intermediate
v.to stay at home to protect yourself from a disease because you are at high risk.
v.to practice extreme social distancing by remaining indoors to avoid contracting a communicable disease.
Simple“During the pandemic, my grandfather had to shield for several months.”
In context“Public health officials advised vulnerable citizens to continue shielding until the local infection rates had dropped significantly.”
UsageOften used as an intransitive verb in the context of public health.
Synonyms
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”).
From Middle English shelden, from Old English scildan.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.