Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In classical antiquity, a small and light buckler, as that introduced among the Athenian light-armed troops by Iphicrates, about 392
b. c. , to take the place of the heavier shield, in order to increase their efficiency in marching and skirmishing. - noun In botany, an apothecium of a lichen forming a flat shield without distinct exciple, as in the genus Peltigea; sometimes, also, a scale or bract attached by its middle.
- noun [capitalized] In conchology, a genus of gastropods, now called
Runcina .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Antiq.) A small shield, especially one of an approximately elliptic form, or crescent-shaped.
- noun (Bot.) A flat apothecium having no rim.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun historical A small
shield , especially one of an approximatelyelliptical form, orcrescent -shaped. - noun botany A
flat apothecium having norim .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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“Catapult” means “shield-breaker,” “cata” meaning break or penetrate and “pelta” being the name ofthe shield used by the Greek light infantry.
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“Catapult” means “shield-breaker,” “cata” meaning break or penetrate and “pelta” being the name ofthe shield used by the Greek light infantry.
John Brown – the author’s official site » 2010 » June » 14 2010
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“Catapult” means “shield-breaker,” “cata” meaning break or penetrate and “pelta” being the name ofthe shield used by the Greek light infantry.
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For the preceding two years Iphicrates had commanded a body of mercenaries, consisting of peltasts, [So called from the pelta, or kind of shield which they carried.] who had been first organised by Conon after rebuilding the walls of Athens.
A Smaller history of Greece From the earliest times to the Roman conquest William Smith 1853
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The chief defensive weapon of the Asiatics was the pelta, or small shield in the form of a crescent; sometimes with, and sometimes with - out its curved side divided by a point into twin concavities.
Costume of the ancients Hope, Thomas, 1770?-1831 1812
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Applied alfo to a ftigma, when it is round and flat, like a pelta.
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Corallina (Androface) tu* bulofa fimplcx pelta tecminali radiata.
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14 Peltasts, i.e. light infantry armed with the “pelta” or light shield, instead of the heavy aspis of the hoplite or heavy infantry soldiers.
Hellenica 2007
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