shibboleth

[Heb.=(1) an ear of corn; (2) a river, from shabal =to increase, to grow, to flow.] 1. A word used as a test or criterion by which to distinguish the Ephraimites from the Gileadites, the former, through not being able to pronounce the letter sh, pronouncing the word as sibboleth (Judges xii.). IMG:content-1343.png:[blocks in formation] Zool.: Ca idina, a genus of Cursorial Isopod a. shield-tail, s. Zool .: Any individual of the Uropeltide (q. v.). shield, *schelde, *schilde, *shilde, verb trans. [SHIELD, 8. ] 1. To cover, defend, or protect with or as with a shield; to shelter or protect from anything hurtful or annoying. "Heaven shield your grace from woe." Shakesp.: Measure for Measure, v. 1. *2. To ward off. "Out of their cold caves and frozen habitations, into the sweet soil of Europe, they brought with them their usual weeds, fit to shield the cold to which they had been inured."- Spenser : State of Ireland. *3. To forbid, to forfend, to avert. "God shilde that he died sodenly." Chaucer: C. Т., 3,427.