Belard

/bɪˈlɑɹd/ verb

Definition

To bard or armor excessively; to cover heavily with protective plating or defensive gear.

Etymology

From 'be-' (intensive prefix) plus 'lard' (in the archaic sense of 'to insert strips of fat into meat' or more generally 'to cover thickly'). The term evolved in medieval contexts when armoring knights required elaborate protective layers.

Kelly Says

Medieval blacksmiths had to be creative about how they described their work, and 'belard' captures the obsessive layering that went into making a knight nearly invulnerable—sometimes to the point of making them so heavy they could barely move!

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