Now put your shields before your hearts and fight,
With hearts more proof than shields. --Shak.
2. Anything which protects or defends; defense; shelter;
protection. ``My council is my shield.'' --Shak.
3. Figuratively, one who protects or defends.
Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward. --Gen. xv. 1.
4. (Bot.) In lichens, a Hardened cup or disk surrounded by a
rim and containing the fructification, or asci.
5. (Her.) The escutcheon or field on which are placed the
bearings in coats of arms. Cf. {Lozenge}. See Illust. of
{Escutcheon}.
6. (Mining & Tunneling) A framework used to protect workmen
in making an adit under ground, and capable of being
pushed along as excavation progresses.
7. A spot resembling, or having the form of, a shield.
``Bespotted as with shields of red and black.'' --Spenser.
8. A coin, the old French crown, or ['e]cu, having on one
side the figure of a shield. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
{Shield fern} (Bot.), any fern of the genus {Aspidium}, in
which the fructifications are covered with shield-shaped
indusia; -- called also {wood fern}. See Illust. of
{Indusium}.
Shouts of applause ran ringing through the field, To
see the son the vanquished father shield. --Dryden.
A woman's shape doth shield thee. --Shak.
2. To ward off; to keep off or out.
They brought with them their usual weeds, fit to
shield the cold to which they had been inured.
--Spenser.
3. To avert, as a misfortune; hence, as a supplicatory
exclamation, forbid! [Obs.]
God shield that it should so befall. --Chaucer.
God shield I should disturb devotion! --Shak.