ægis

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In Greek myth, originally the storm-cloud enveloping the thunderbolt, the especial weapon of Zeus; afterward considered as the skin of the goat Amalthea, the foster-mother of Zeus, which the latter took for defensive armor in his war with the Titans. According to another conception, it was a terrible and immortal arm wrought by Hephæstus after the fashion of a thunder-cloud fringed with lightning. It was intrusted by Zeus to Apollo and to Athena, and became a characteristic attribute of the latter.
2. n. In art, a representation of the ægis as a sort of mantle fringed with serpents, much more ample in archaic examples than later, generally worn covering the breast, but sometimes held extended over the left arm, or thrown over the arm to serve as a shield. The ægis of Athena, except in the most primitive representations, bears in the midst the head of the Gorgon Medusa, and is usually covered with scales like those of a serpent.
3. n. Hence, figuratively Any influence or power which protects: as, under the imperial ægis. Also spelled egis.

Wiktionary

1. n. alternative spelling of aegis.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A shield or protective armor; -- applied in mythology to the shield of Jupiter which he gave to Minerva. Also fig.: A shield; a protection.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. kindly endorsement and guidance
2. n. armor plate that protects the chest; the front part of a cuirass