different between shield vs buffer

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?ld/
• Rhymes: -i?ld

Etymology 1

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”)

Compare Latin sc?tum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian šk?da (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian ??? (š?it, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

Noun

shield (plural shields)

1. Anything that protects or defends; defense; shelter; protection.
   1. A broad piece of defensive armor, held in hand, formerly in general use in war, for the protection of the body.
   2. (figuratively) One who protects or defends.
   3. (lichenology) In lichens, a hardened cup or disk surrounded by a rim and containing the fructification, or asci.
   4. (mining, tunnelling) A framework used to protect workmen in making an adit under ground, and capable of being pushed along as excavation progresses.
   5. (science fiction) A field of energy that protects or defends.
2. A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.
   1. (heraldry) The escutcheon or field on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms.
   2. (Scotland, euphemistic, obsolete) A toilet seat.
   3. A spot resembling, or having the form of a shield.
   4. (obsolete) A coin, the old French crown, or écu, having on one side the figure of a shield.
   5. (transport) A sign or symbol, usually containing numbers and sometimes letters, identifying a highway route.
   6. (colloquial, law enforcement) A police badge.
3. (geology) A large expanse of exposed stable Precambrian rock.
   1. (geology) A wide and relatively low-profiled volcano, usually composed entirely of lava flows.
4. (figuratively, Scotland, euphemistic, obsolete) A place with a toilet seat: an outhouse; a lavatory.
5. (automotive, British) Parts at the front and back of a vehicle which are meant to absorb the impact of a collision

Synonyms

• (place with a toilet seat): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Hyponyms

Derived terms

• bitch shield
• rape shield
• shield medick (Medicago scutellata)
• shield wall

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English shelden, from Old English scildan.

Verb

shield (third-person singular simple present shields, present participle shielding, simple past and past participle shielded)

1. To protect, to defend.
2. (Britain, intransitive) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

3. (electricity) to protect from the influence of

Derived terms

• beshield

Translations

Anagrams

• Diehls, delish, hidels, hidles, hields, ledish, sheild

English

Etymology

Agent noun from obsolete verb buff (“make a dull sound when struck”) (mid-16c.), from Old French buffe (“blow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b?f?(?)/, [?b?f?(?)]
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b?f?/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /?baf?(?)/, [?bäf?(?)]
• Rhymes: -?f?(r)

Noun

buffer (plural buffers)

1. Someone or something that buffs.
   1. A machine with rotary brushes, passed over a hard floor to clean it.
   2. A machine for polishing shoes and boots.
2. (chemistry) A solution used to stabilize the pH (acidity) of a liquid.
3. (computing) A portion of memory set aside to store data, often before it is sent to an external device or as it is received from an external device.
4. (mechanical) Anything used to maintain slack or isolate different objects.
5. (telecommunications) A routine or storage medium used to compensate for a difference in rate of flow of data, or time of occurrence of events, when transferring data from one device to another.
6. (rail transport) A device on trains and carriages designed to cushion the impact between them.
   • 1885, W. S. Gilbert, The Mikado, Act II, in The Mikado, and Other Plays, New York: Modern Library, 1917, p. 42, [1]

     The idiot who, in railway carriages, / Scribbles on window panes, / We only suffer / To ride on a buffer / In Parliamentary trains.

   • 1953, C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair, Collins, 1998, Chapter 14,

     Then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed.

7. (rail transport) The metal barrier to help prevent trains from running off the end of the track.
8. An isolating circuit, often an amplifier, used to minimize the influence of a driven circuit on the driving circuit.
9. (politics, international relations) A buffer zone (such as a demilitarized zone) or a buffer state.
10. (colloquial) A good-humoured, slow-witted fellow, usually an elderly man.
    • 1955, C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Collins, 1998, Chapter 1,

      I can’t expect two youngsters like you to find it much fun talking to an old buffer like me.

11. (figuratively) A gap that isolates or separates two things.
12. (Britain, nautical, slang) The chief bosun's mate.
    • 2001, Mark Higgitt, Through Fire and Water (page 43)

      He decided to run for president of the POs' Mess against the Buffer, Chief Bosun's Mate Mal Crane, but the two had a face-to-face in his cabin one night in Narvik and sorted it out.

    • 2015, Peter Broadbent, A Singapore Fling: An AB's Far-Flung Adventure

      I happen to be on the brow handing my Bosun's Mate duties over to an Ordinary Seaman when the Buffer arrives with an unofficial Side-Party to man the brow with Bosun's Calls at the ready.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

buffer (third-person singular simple present buffers, present participle buffering, simple past and past participle buffered)

1. To use a buffer or buffers; to isolate or minimize the effects of one thing on another.
2. (computing) To store data in memory temporarily.
3. (chemistry) To maintain the acidity of a solution near a chosen value by adding an acid or a base.

Translations

Adjective

buffer

1. comparative form of buff: more buff

Related terms

• bufferize
• buffer lass
• buffer up
• buffer zone

Anagrams

• rebuff

Danish

Etymology

From English buffer.

Noun

buffer c (singular definite bufferen, plural indefinite buffere)

1. (chemistry) buffer

Declension

Synonyms

• puffer

Further reading

• “buffer” in Den Danske Ordbog

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English buffer.

Noun

buffer m (invariable)

1. (computing) buffer

   Synonym: memoria tampone

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English buffer.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?b?.fe?/

Noun

buffer m (plural buffers)

1. (computing) buffer (memory for temporary storage)

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) buffar
• (Sutsilvan) bufar
• (Vallader) boffar

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

buffer

1. (Puter) to blow

Synonyms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan) sufflar
• (Sutsilvan, Surmiran) zuflar
• (Puter) zufler
• (Vallader) sofflar

Spanish

Noun

buffer m (plural buffers)

1. (computing) buffer

Westrobothnian

Verb

buffer

1. Alternative form of bufför