Word.ws English Dictionary

bield

bield noun: boldness, courage; confidence; a feeling of security, assurance.

Noun

bield (usually uncountable, plural bields)

  1. (obsolete, usually) Boldness, courage; confidence; a feeling of security, assurance.
  2. (obsolete, usually) Resource, help, relief; a means of help or relief; support; sustenance.
  3. (Northern England, archaic, usually, obsolete elsewhere) Shelter, refuge or protection.
    • This breast, this bosom soft, shall be thy bield / 'Gainst storms of arrows, darts, and weapons thrown.1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, Book XVI, xlix
  4. (Northern England, archaic, usually, obsolete elsewhere) A place of shelter, a refuge.

Verb

bield (third-person singular simple present bields, present participle bielding, simple past and past participle bielded)

  1. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To make bold, give courage or confidence to.
  2. (dialectal, obsolete, transitive) To defend, protect or shelter.

Synonyms of bield

Forms of bield

Noun
pluralbields
alternative formbeeld
alternative formbeild
Verb
third-person singular presentbields
present participlebielding
past participlebielded
pastbielded

Origin of bield

From Middle English belde, beeld, beld, from Old English bieldu (“courage, boldness”), from Proto-Germanic *balþį̄ (“boldness”), from *balþaz (“bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old High German baldī (“boldness, courage”) (Middle High German belde), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌴𐌹 (balþei, “boldness, courage”). More at bold.

From Middle English beelden, belden, from Old English byldan, bieldan (“to encourage, embolden”), from Proto-Germanic *balþijaną (“to make bold”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to inflate, swell”). Cognate with Old Saxon beldjan (“to encourage”), Old High German baldēn (“to make bold”) (Middle High German belden), Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌻𐌸𐌾𐌰𐌽 (balþjan, “to make bold”).

Words formed from bield

Questions about bield

What does bield mean?
Bield means boldness, courage; confidence; a feeling of security, assurance.
What part of speech is bield?
Bield can be a noun or a verb.
What is the plural of bield?
The plural of bield is bields.

Words near bield in the dictionary

  1. Bielarus'
  2. Bielawski
  3. Bielawskis
  4. Bielby
  5. Bielbys
  6. bield
  7. bielded
  8. bielding
  9. bields
  10. Bieldside
  11. bieldy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: bield (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “bield.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bield. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.