Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pavis

Pavis , noun

[Old French pavaix, French pavois; compare Italian pavese, Late Latin pavense; perh. named from Pavia in Italy.]

(Military Antiquities) A large heavy oblong shield covering the whole body, carried by a pavisor, who sometimes also screened an archer with it. It was originally carried but sometimes set up in permanent position — Fairholt

Also: Pavise