Pelta
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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- n pelta 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.
- n pelta 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.
- n pelta [capitalized] In conchology, a genus of gastropods, now called Runcina.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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- n Pelta pel′ta a light buckler
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L., a shield, fr. Gr. pe`lth
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
L.,—Gr. peltē.