ˈshield-ˌbearer
An attendant who carries the shield of a warrior.
| 1603 Holland Plutarch's Mor. 427 His [Epaminondas'] esquire or shield-bearer had received a good piece of money for the ransome of a prisoner. 1761 London & Environs I. 45 Chaucer..was employed as a shield-bearer to the King. 1852 Grote Greece ii. lxxx. X. 479 He first inquired whether his shield was safe and his shield-bearer answering in the affirmative produced it before his eyes. 1875 Morris æneids ii. 477 Now shield-bearer Automedon and all the Scyrian host Closed on the walls. |
| fig. 1893 Goldw. Smith United States 165 Jefferson's successor was his shield-bearer, Madison. |
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| 1911 Century Dict. Suppl., Shield-bearer, any one of the small elachistid moths of the genus Coptodisca (formerly Aspidisca), as the resplendent shield-bearer. |