0 a person or group of people kept in a particular place in order to stop an enemy from attacking that place:
One day he is present when a criminal takes a female hostage in order to use the woman as a human shield.
Sometimes guard dogs are treated as equipment and other times required to become a human shield.
They systematically detained the inhabitants inside one room of the house, held them hostage and used them as human shield.
However, if enemies engage into such attacks themselves, the game continues since the attack was by the console itself, bringing a useful human shield tactic.
They could also use the referee as a human shield, making themselves immune to all attacks.
Relatives and neighbours gathered at the home to form a human shield, according to one source.
But the inmates inside create a human shield by tying the hostages to the interior wall.
That leaves aside the really disastrous scenario, which is the use of foreigners or people of their own kind as a human shield against such an attack.