buckler

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: buck=ler

CIDE DICTIONARY

buckler, n. [OE. bocler, OF. bocler, F. bouclier, a shield with a boss, from OF. bocle, boucle, boss. See Buckle, n.].

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  " In the sword and buckler play of the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used, not to cover the body, but to stop or parry blows."  [1913 Webster]
•  One of the large, bony, external plates found on many ganoid fishes.  [1913 Webster]
•  A block of wood or plate of iron made to fit a hawse hole, or the circular opening in a half-port, to prevent water from entering when the vessel pitches.  [1913 Webster]

Blind buckler (Naut.), a solid buckler. -- Buckler mustard (Bot.), a genus of plants (Biscutella) with small bright yellow flowers. The seed vessel on bursting resembles two bucklers or shields. -- Buckler thorn, a plant with seed vessels shaped like a buckler. See Christ's thorn. -- Riding buckler (Naut.), a buckler with a hole for the passage of a cable.

buckler, v. t. 

 To shield; to defend.  [1913 Webster]
"Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?"  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

buckler, n.
1 hist. a small round shield held by a handle.
2 Bot. any of several ferns of the genus Dryopteris, having buckler-shaped indusia. Also called shield-fern.

Etymology

ME f. OF bocler lit. 'having a boss' f. boucle BOSS(2)

ROGET THESAURUS

buckler

Defense

N defense, protection, guard, ward, shielding, propugnation, preservation, guardianship, area defense, site defense, self-defense, self-preservation, resistance, safeguard, balistraria, bunker, screen, camouflage, fortification, munition, muniment, trench, foxhole, bulwark, fosse, moat, ditch, entrenchment, intrenchment, kila, dike, dyke, parapet, sunk fence, embankment, mound, mole, bank, sandbag, revetment, earth work, field- work, fence, wall dead wall, contravallation, paling, palisade, haha, stockade, stoccado, laager, sangar, barrier, barricade, boom, portcullis, chevaux de frise, abatis, abattis, abbatis, vallum, circumvallation, battlement, rampart, scarp, escarp, counter-scarp, glacis, casemate, vallation, vanfos, buttress, abutment, shore, breastwork, banquette, curtain, mantlet, bastion, redan, ravelin, vauntmure, advance work, horn work, outwork, barbacan, barbican, redoubt, fort-elage, fort-alice, lines, loophole, machicolation, sally port, hold, stronghold, fastness, asylum, keep, donjon, dungeon, fortress, citadel, capitol, castle, tower of strength, tower of strength, fort, barracoon, pah, sconce, martello tower, peelhouse, blockhouse, rath, wooden walls, bulletproof vest, armored vest, buffer, corner stone, fender, apron, mask, gauntlet, thimble, carapace, armor, shield, buckler, aegis, breastplate, backplate, cowcatcher, face guard, scutum, cuirass, habergeon, mail, coat of mail, brigandine, hauberk, lorication, helmet, helm, bassinet, salade, heaume, morion, murrion, armet, cabaset, vizor, casquetel, siege cap, headpiece, casque, pickelhaube, vambrace, shako, bearskin, panoply, truncheon, garrison, picket, piquet, defender, protector, guardian, bodyguard, champion, knight-errant, Paladin, propugner, bulletproof window, hardened site, defending, defensive, mural, armed, armed at all points, armed cap-a-pie, armed to the teeth, panoplied, iron-plated, ironclad, loopholed, castellated, machicolated, casemated, defended, proof against, armored, ballproof, bulletproof, hardened, defensively, on the defense, on the defensive, in defense, at bay, pro aris et focis, Int, no surrender!, defense not defiance, Dieu defend le droit, fidei defensor, defender of the faith.