BUCKLE
Buc"kle, v. i.
1. To bend permanently; to become distorted; to bow; to curl; to kink. Buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment. Pepys.
2. To bend out of a true vertical plane, as a wall.
3. To yield; to give way; to cease opposing. [Obs.] The Dutch, as high as they seem, do begin to buckle. Pepys.
4. To enter upon some labor or contest; to join in close fight; to
struggle; to contend.
The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as
he was with him. Latimer.
In single combat thou shalt buckle with me. Shak.
To buckle to, to bend to; to engage with zeal.
To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto. Barrow.
Before buckling to my winter's work. J. D. Forbes.
BUCKLER Buc"kler, n. Etym: [OE. bocler, OF. bocler, F. bouclier, a shield with a boss, from OF. bocle, boucle, boss. See Buckle, n.]
1. A kind of shield, of various shapes and sizes, worn on one of the arms (usually the left) for protecting the front of the body.
Note: In the sword and buckler play of the Middle Ages in England, the buckler was a small shield, used, not to cover the body, but to stop or parry blows.
2. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the large, bony, external plates found on many ganoid fishes. (b) The anterior segment of the shell of trilobites.
3. (Naut.)