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hield

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hield¹

Rhymes with -iːld

Where it comes from

From Middle English heelden, helden, from Old English hieldan, heldan (“to lean, incline, slope, force downwards, bow or bend down”), from Proto-West Germanic *halþijan, from Proto-Germanic *halþijaną (“to bend, incline, pour, empty”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to tilt, tip, incline”).

Cognate with Dutch hellen (“to incline”), Low German hellen (“to incline”), Middle High German helden (“to incline”), Danish hælde (“to tilt, lean, slant, slope”), Swedish hälla (“to tilt, pour”), Icelandic halla (“incline, lean sideways, heel over”), Icelandic hella (“to pur”). See also heel.

verb hields · hielding · hielded · heeld · heald

  1. transitive To bend; incline; tilt (as a water-vessel or ship); heel.
  2. transitive To pour out; pour.
  3. transitive To throw; cast; put.

    Similar: fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, cook, dash, dump, feck, jerk, heave

  4. intransitive To bow; bend; incline; tilt or cant over.
  5. intransitive To decline; sink; go down.
  6. intransitive To yield; give way; surrender.

hield²

Rhymes with -iːld

Where it comes from

From Middle English held, from Old English hielde (“slope, declivity”), from Proto-Germanic *halþijōn, *halþijō (“inclination, slope”), from Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“to tilt, tip, incline”). Cognate with German Halde (“slope”), Danish hæld (“an incline, slope”).

noun hields · heeld · heald · heild · hild · hyld

  1. An inclination; a cant.
  2. UK, dialectal An incline; slope.
  3. A decline; decrease; wane.

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MLA

"hield." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hield. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

hield. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hield

Chicago

"hield." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hield.

BibTeX
@misc{hield_2026,
  title = {hield},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hield},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}