A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2000 (DOST Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1375-1420
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S(c)hiltrum, n. Also: schyl-, chil- and -thrum; childrome.[ME and e.m.E. sceld truma (c1205), scheltroun (c1325), shiltron (Piers Plowman), shildryme (1422), schiltron (1577–87), OE scyld truma f. scield a shield and truma a troop.The latest recorded use in OED is f. Holinshed, who appar. regarded it as a Scottish usage.]
Only of English troops: A close compact body of troops; a phalanx. 1375 Barb. xii 431.
For all thar [supra The Inglishmen] bataillis samyn wer In a schilthrum [C. childrome, H. shiltrum], bot quhether it was Throw the gret stratnes of the place That thai war in to bid fechting Or that it was for abaysing I wate nocht 1375 Ib. 446.
Mony a brycht baner … Mycht in that gret schiltrum be sene 1375 Ib. xiii 175.
Scottis that thaim hard assa[yit] That than war in a schiltrum [1571 chiltrum] all 1375 Ib. xv. 354 (C).
Bath the forreouris and the staill, Intill a childrome knyt all haill c1420 Wynt. viii 1769.
The gentillis off Fyffe … All that schyltrum [W. All thai soldiouris] thai slw down
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"Shiltrum n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 18 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/schiltrum>
