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A shield or protective armor; -- applied in mythology to the shield of Jupiter which he gave to Minerva. Also fig.: A shield; a protection.

A small square shield, formerly worn on the shoulders of knights, -- being the prototype of the modern epaulet. Fairholt.

The sacred shield of the Romans, said to have-fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa. It was the palladium of Rome.

ou and love are still my argument. Shak. The abstract or argument of the piece. Jeffrey. [Shields] with boastful argument portrayed. Milton.

Formerly, an armor bearer, as of a knight, an esquire who bore his shield and rendered other services. In later use, one next in degree to a knight, and entitled to armorial bearings. The term is now superseded by esquire. Jacob.

Armor: defensive and offensive arms. Celestial armory, shields, helms, and spears. Milton.

The ensigns armorial of a family, consisting of figures and colors borne in shields, banners, etc., as marks of dignity and distinction, and descending from father to son.

To soil; to stain. [Obs. or Poet.] Beau. & Fl. Ne'er assoil my cobwebbed shield. Wordsworth.

Not furnished with shields or beds for the spores, as the thallus of certain lichens.

A Hindoo trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer. [Written also banyan.]

Divided into an even number of bends; -- said of a shield or its charge. Cussans.

with an angle like that inclosed by a carpenter's bevel; -- said of a partition line of a shield.

Having a shell or covering like a double shield.

A shield. [Obs.]

A border one fifth the width of the shield, surrounding the field. It is usually plain, but may be charged.

or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.

To destroy the official character and standing of; to cashier; to dismiss. I see a great officer broken. Swift.

A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, worn on one of the arms (usually the left) for protecting the front of the body.

A division of a shield occupying one third part of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top of the shield, meeting a horizontal line from the side. The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms. Evelyn.

Having a charge in each of the four corners; -- said of a cross on a shield, and also of the shield itself.