Dictionary

beshield en · VERB

Etymology

From Middle English bischilden, from Old English besċyldian, besċieldian (“to shield, defend”); equivalent to be- + shield.

Meanings

1. (archaic, reflexive, transitive) To shield around or about; protect; defend.
   • Beshield thee with thy troops; find out at will Fresh instruments of war, and unknown gear; For thou shalt not scape death from this my hand, O slayer of the dames, so brave and grand. 1876, Torquato Tasso, The Jerusalem delivered of Yorquato Tasso:
   • Of course I was frightened — frightened of being struck, or beshamed, during the next tone-show — so cast about for someone to beshield me. 2006, Percy Grainger, Malcolm Gillies, David Pear, Self-Portrait of Percy Grainger:
   • […]that in that same night Olympia might behold the god Hamon lying beside her, and saying to her thereafter, 'Woman, thou hast conceived him who shall beshield thee. 2004, Robert Thornton, The Prose Life of Alexander:
2. (transitive) To provide or outfit with a shield.
   • Our bearers now began to call themselves Natal Kafirs, fearing to say they were Zulus before the young Amaswazi warriors, beplumed, beshielded, bespeared, perched about here and there in picturesque unconsciousness of their picturesqueness. 1872, The Net:

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