Word Meaning

Meaning of scutum

- An oblong shield made of boards or wickerwork covered with leather, with sometimes an iron rim; -- carried chiefly by the heavy-armed infantry.
- A penthouse or awning.
- The second and largest of the four parts forming the upper surface of a thoracic segment of an insect. It is preceded by the prescutum and followed by the scutellum. See the Illust. under Thorax.
- One of the two lower valves of the operculum of a barnacle.