gardbrace

gardbrace noun: a piece of armor which augments the pauldron in protecting the shoulder.

Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

gardbrace (plural gardbraces)

A piece of armor which augments the pauldron in protecting the shoulder.
- Some plates were bent up at the edges, or “turned.” Turns were made at the top of the breastplate and around the armholes. The top edges of the pauldrons were turned until the gardbraces were added. Then the turn was added to them.1963, Sean Morrison, Armor, Ty Crowell Company
- In the case of both Real Armería a16 and Kunsthistorisches Museum hjrks1 the right pauldron has a gardbrace that could conceivably get ripped off, especially if the coronel of the opponent's lance caught the leading edge.2010, Noel Fallows, Jousting in Medieval and Renaissance Iberia, Boydell Press, →ISBN, page 205

Other features included symmetrical couters attached by arming points and symmetrical pauldrons, often with reinforcing plates (gardbraces).2011, Mike Ingram, Battle Story: Bosworth 1485, The History Press, →ISBN:
The pauldron showing long, pointed articulation lames that enable […] Additional reinforcing plates (gardbraces), which […]2013, Paul F Walker, History of Armour 1100-1700, Crowood, →ISBN:
The one concession was a single large and spikey gardbrace attached to the pauldron of the right shoulder, which became a symbol of rank among the warlords based on the shape and design.2016, Tracy Hickman, Richard Garriott, The Sword of Midras: A Shroud of the Avatar Novel, Macmillan, →ISBN, page 26:
George looked down at his gardbrace and gave a moment's stare at the golden arrow emblazoned upon it.2016, Adam Greven, Matt Deller, The Knight Proper, Inkshares, →ISBN, page 248:

plural	gardbraces

Apparently a variant of gardebras. for the semantic development, compare passguard.

What does gardbrace mean?: Gardbrace means a piece of armor which augments the pauldron in protecting the shoulder.
How do you use gardbrace in a sentence?: Other features included symmetrical couters attached by arming points and symmetrical pauldrons, often with reinforcing plates (gardbraces).
What part of speech is gardbrace?: Gardbrace is a noun.
What is the plural of gardbrace?: The plural of gardbrace is gardbraces.

Adapted from Wiktionary: gardbrace (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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