Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A scute.
  • noun A shield-shaped dorsal sclerite or plate of certain insects and arachnids.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun historical An oblong shield made of boards or wickerwork covered with leather, with sometimes an iron rim; carried chiefly by the heavy-armed infantry of the Roman army.
  • noun zoology A scute.
  • noun zoology One of the two lower valves of the operculum of a barnacle.
  • noun obsolete A penthouse or awning.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin scūtum, shield; see skei- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin scūtum ("shield").

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Examples

  • His men were armed with round shields and long spears, the Romans had the large shield called the scutum, a better protection for the body, and the javelin, a much more effective weapon than the spear whether for hurling or thrusting.

    The History of Rome, Vol. II 1905

  • They carried a big, oblong shield scutum and wielded a sword with a broad, straight blade, about a foot and a half long.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • With his fifteen-pound scutum, a strong murmillo could hit harder, but a fast thraex could get in more blows in rapid succession with his seven-pound parmula.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • With his fifteen-pound scutum, a strong murmillo could hit harder, but a fast thraex could get in more blows in rapid succession with his seven-pound parmula.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • They carried a big, oblong shield scutum and wielded a sword with a broad, straight blade, about a foot and a half long.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • They carried a big, oblong shield scutum and wielded a sword with a broad, straight blade, about a foot and a half long.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • They carried a big, oblong shield scutum and wielded a sword with a broad, straight blade, about a foot and a half long.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • With his fifteen-pound scutum, a strong murmillo could hit harder, but a fast thraex could get in more blows in rapid succession with his seven-pound parmula.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • With his fifteen-pound scutum, a strong murmillo could hit harder, but a fast thraex could get in more blows in rapid succession with his seven-pound parmula.

    The Spartacus War Barry Strauss 2009

  • From being a very militantly prosletysing "cum scutum et ignis" - by Sword and Fire - movement, it matured, and led by example rather than conquest.

    Two Civil Wars Zoe Brain 2005

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