shiel

S1H4I1E1L1
/ʃiːl/

noun

A shepherd's hut or shieling.

OriginMiddle English schele →
UncommonScrabble 8
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Meanings

shiel1

nounshiel (plural shiels)

plural shiels

  1. A shepherd's hut or shieling.
  2. A cottage.

    The craik amang the claver hay, The pairtrick whirrin o'er the ley, The swallow jinkin round my shiel, Amuse me at my spinnin wheel.

    1792, Robert Burns, Poems & Songs
verbshiel (third-person singular simple present shiels, present participle shieling, simple past and past participle shieled)

present singular third person shiels · participle present shieling · participle past shieled · past shieled

  1. intransitiveagricultureTo use a place as a shieling.

    Patrick Robertson, who shieled on the Atholl side of Drumochter, confirmed this practice: his cattle 'continued there till about midsummer, when they were brought down to his farm, having continued there about three weeks, and were then sent back to the shealing.

    2021, David Taylor, Wild Black Region: Badenoch 1750-1800

Shiel2

proper nounShiel (countable and uncountable, plural Shiels)

plural Shiels

  1. countableuncountableA surname.
  2. countableuncountableA short river in Highland council area, Scotland, which flows from Loch Shiel to Loch Moidart.
  3. countableuncountableA river in Glen Shiel, further north in Highland council area.

Origin

shiel · noun, verb

  1. Middle Englishschele
  2. Englishshiel

From Middle English schele. Akin to Old Frisian skiāle (“stable”) and Old Norse skjól (“shelter”). See also sheal.

More words from Middle English

Full word history & related roots →

Shiel · proper noun

Variant of Shield or Shields.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with shiel

realmobilefeeldealsteelappealwheelsealmealNeilrevealreelstealheelpeelhealnealsteelerepealtealsurrealcelalleleLille
All rhymes →

Anagrams

hilesHiselHisle
Cite this entry
APA

shiel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiel

MLA

“shiel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiel. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “shiel,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/shiel.

Source: shiel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.