▪ I. sheld, a. dial.
(ʃɛld)
Also 6 schell, 9 shell, shelled.
[ad. or cogn. with MDu. schillede variegated (oftener in comb., as rootschillede), = WFlem. schilde, f. schillen (in mod.Du. verschillen) to make different. The existence of the Eng. word at an earlier date is probably implied in sheldrake.]
Particoloured, pied, piebald.
| 1507 Will of Crisall (Somerset Ho.), ij kyne garle & schell. a 1672 [see shelden]. 1674 Ray S. & E.C. Words 76 Sheld, flecked: party-coloured. 1787 W. H. Marshall Norfolk (1795) II. 388 Shelled, pied; party-coloured. 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words s.v. Shell, Shell (or sheld) is pied, of two colours; flecker'd is gay, of more than two. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Shelled, pie-bald. |
▪ II. sheld
obs. form of shield.