buckler
/ˈbʌk.lɚ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.40 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, held in the hand or worn on the arm (usually the left), for protecting the front of the body. 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.
noun
A shield resembling the Roman scutum. In modern usage, a smaller variety of shield is usually implied by this term.
Obsolete
noun
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.
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "Bucklers will be assigned to buckle up drivers in the morning and make sure they stay buckled up."
- "I am eight times thrust through the doublet, four through the hose, my buckler cut through and through; my sword hacked like a hand-saw -- ecce signum!"
- "The target or buckler was carried by the heavy armed foot, it answered to the scutum of the Romans; its form was sometimes that of a rectangular parallelogram, but more commonly had it's bottom rounded off; it was generally convex, being curved in it's breadth."
- "Most zeids have spiny projections or bucklers at the dorsal- and anal-fin bases and bony plates on the ventral surface of the abdomen."
- "Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right, / Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?"
Etymology
From Middle English bukler, bokler, bokeler, bokeleer, from Old French bocler, boucler, bucler, (French bouclier) from Vulgar Latin *bucculārius (“bossed”), from Latin buccula (“boss”). Merged with buckle + -er.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈbʌk.lɚ/
- British English: /ˈbʌk.lə/