shield from danger, injury, destruction, or damage
Weatherbeater protects your roof from the rain
use tariffs to favor domestic industry
Microsoft Computer Dictionary
n. A keyword in a programming language (such as Java or C++) used in a method or variable declaration. It signifies that the method or variable can be accessed only by elements residing in its class, subclasses, or classes in the same package. See also class, declaration, method, package, variable.