Bield
noun, verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Boldness, courage; confidence; a feeling of security, assurance. obsolete, uncountable, usually
- 2 Resource, help, relief; a means of help or relief; support; sustenance. obsolete, uncountable, usually
- 3 Shelter, refuge or protection. Northern-England, archaic, uncountable, usually
"This breast, this bosom soft, shall be thy bield / 'Gainst storms of arrows, darts, and weapons thrown."
- 4 A place of shelter, a refuge. Northern-England, archaic, uncountable, usually
- 1 To make bold, give courage or confidence to. dialectal, obsolete, transitive
- 2 To defend, protect or shelter. dialectal, obsolete, transitive
Example
More examples"This breast, this bosom soft, shall be thy bield / 'Gainst storms of arrows, darts, and weapons thrown."
Etymology
From Middle English belde, beeld, beld, from Old English bieldu (“courage, boldness”), from Proto-Germanic *balþį̄ (“boldness”), from *balþaz (“bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old High German baldī (“boldness, courage”) (Middle High German belde), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (balþei, “boldness, courage”). More at bold.
From Middle English beelden, belden, from Old English byldan, bieldan (“to encourage, embolden”), from Proto-Germanic *balþijaną (“to make bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon beldjan (“to encourage”), Old High German baldēn (“to make bold”) (Middle High German belden), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (balþjan, “to make bold”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.