chimalli.

Headword: 
chimalli.
Principal English Translation: 

a shield; a symbol for war itself; also attested as a name (Chimaltzin)
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 214.

can have feather decorations; and, some necklaces had a shield-shaped design (see attestations)

IPAspelling: 
tʃiːmɑlli
Alonso de Molina: 

chimalli. rodela, adarga paues, o cosa semejante.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 21r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

CHĪMAL-LI shield / rodela, adarga pavés, o cosa semejante (M), escudo (Z)
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 52.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

together with mītl, arrow, a metaphor for war
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 214.

Attestations from sources in English: 

in iuh mochimaltopeoa mjtl = how a spear was fended off with a shield (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 72.

Chimalli xiuhtototica tzacquj, coztic teucujtlatl ic itixapo = The shield was covered with blue cotinga feathers and had a disc of gold in the center. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 33.

onihuallihualoc ca mitl. ca chimalli. yn onimacoc. ca yaoyotl y notequiuh = I have been given the arrow and the shield, for war is my practice. (central Mexico, early seventeenth century)
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 78–79.

nimā ie ic quintemolia in Motecuçomatzin in ixquich in itetzō in altepetl, in tlauiztli, in chimalli = right away they interrogated Moteucçoma about all the stored treasure of the altepetl, the devices and shields (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 122.

amo chimaltica quinnamicque in Españoles = they did not meet the Spaniards with weapons of war (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 94.

iautica quinnamicque, chimaltica quinnamicque = met them with hostilities and war (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 90.

tlatolchimali cujlolli, tlauhpoiaoac, ycinma nenecoccampa qujtqujtica = she had a chief's shield, painted with designs and embellished in red. She carried in either hand her double ear of maize [speaking about the way the image of the goddess Chicome coatl was arrayed]. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2 -- The Ceremonies, no. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 63.

chimalli quetzalxicalcvliuhjqui = the quetzal [feather] shield with stepped fret design;
quetzalcuexyo chimalli = the Huaxtec quetzal [feather] shield;
tozmiquizyo chimalli = the yellow parrot [feather] death's head shield (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 261.

Zazan tleino, chimalli iitic tentica. Ca chilli: auh ye in iachyo chimalli. = What is it that is filled with round shields inside? A chile, as its seeds are in the form of round shields. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Thelma D. Sullivan, "Nahuatl Proverbs, Conundrums, and Metaphors, Collected by Sahagún," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 4 (1963), 135–136.

chimalcozcatl = shield-shaped necklaces (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 10 -- The People, No. 14, Part 11, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 61.

in jquac vi iaoc, inchimaltitlan caquja in tzontli, in anoҫo mapilli: injc oqujchtizque = when they went to war they inserted the hair or the finger in their shields in order to be valiant (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 162.

Izcatquj ic qujtlapaloa in mjxiuhquj: qujlvia [...] otôiaot, otonmjcal, otimomaman, ovelticman, oveltictzitzquj in mochimal, in moquauh = Behold that with which [a speaker] greeted the newly delivered woman [...] Thou hast made war, thou hast skirmished, thou hast exerted thyself, thou hast taken well, seized well thy shield, thy club (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 194.yoan ychimal ietiuh, ymac mantiuh, ic momamantiuh: yoan ichicaoaz ietiuh, chicaoaçotiuh, qujtilquetztiuh in chicaoaztli, chachalaca, cacalaca = And he bore his shield, which went resting on his arm, and he carried his rattle stick, which he went rattling, and he proceeded planting his rattle stick on the ground, and it rattled and jingled. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 45.in ie iuhquj njman qujoaltoquilia, qujoaloncaiotia, oallaoncaiotia in quauhtli, çan no yuj in conjauhlia tonatiuh, yn ichimal, yn imacquauh = In the same manner there then followed him, coming second, the eagle[-costumed warrior], who similarly lifted up [as an offering] to the sun his shield and his war club. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 49.

Juo Chimal is mentioned in parish records of San Bartolomé Capulhuac (Acapulhuac, Capolohuac, etc.) of 1618.
Salt Lake City, Geneaological Library, microfilm 695644, 1612–1651. Harvested from the microfilm by Stephanie Wood.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

…ma ytla anquincuilitin yn olmeca yn xicalanca yectli yn intlatquin za yeuatl yn itlauizoltzin yn itzquauitl yn chimalli yntlan ximaquiltican quipaccacaquizque yn amocuic yc mitotizque yn amoyaouan yn tlatoque yn olmeca yn xicalanca…. = A los olmeca, a los xicallanca no vayan a quitarles sus propiedades buenas sino sus insignias usadas, la macana y el escudo. Vayan a ellos, que aceptarán el canto, con él bailarán los enemigos de ustedes, los tlatoque de los olmeca, de los xicallanca. (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 132, 153.

Auh in Chimalli yuan matlacpoualli quetzalli ma za niuhtiyez yn piyal yezqui in Diego yuan Baptista yvan centetl coyotl ytzontecon yuan patactli zan no yuh mopiyaz Aun in ozomahtli ytlacayo yuan coxcox ytzontecon xiniz mochivaz cirios onpa monequiz Tecpanteopan San Pedro yc oc centetl quetzaltototzintli ycuitlapil yyahtlapal zan no yuhtiyez mopiyaz = Y el escudo y las doscientas plumas, que solo asi esten, las tendran Diego y Baptista; y la cabeza de un coyote, y el trigo asi se tendra; y el mono, que se parece humano; y la cabeza del faisan se deshara para que se hagan cirios que se necesitaran en la iglesia de San Pedro; otro pajaro pequeño con la cola de plumas verdes, asi estara, asi se tendra. (Tlaxcala, 1581)
Catálogo de documentos escritos en náhuatl, siglo XVI, vol. I (Tlaxcala: Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala y el Archivo Histórico del Estado de Tlaxcala, 2013), 275.

ome pancocolli nahui maçohualoni ce chimalli cuextecatl nahui toecomatl huehuey ome tepitoton = dos como abanicos de pluma y un broquel de pluma y una figura que llaman quistecal que sacan en sus bailes, y cuatro tecomates grandes y dos chicos
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 242–243.

yn chimalli yn itzquauitl yn mitli = el escudo, la macana y la flecha (Quauhtinchan, s. XVI)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 134.

Y[n] chimalli nicciuh v tetl Fran[cis]co Hollin tlacuecuepalchimalli nicchihuilli Di[eg]o Quihiyohuia teocacozcayo yn ichimal Domingo Temillo cuextecatl yn ichimal Auh yn A[n]tonio yn ichimal y[n] nicchihuilli quauhtli motzetzeloticac. = hice cinco escudos: a Francisco Ollin le hice un tlacuecuepalchimalli, el escudo de Diego Quihiyohuia fue un teocacozcayo, el escudo de Domingo Temillo fue un cuextecatl y el escudo que hice a Antonie fue un quauhtli motzetzeloticac. (ca. 1582, México)
Luis Reyes García, ¿Como te confundes? ¿Acaso no somos conquistados? Anales de Juan Bautista (Mexico: Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, Biblioteca Lorenzo Boturini Insigne y Nacional Basílica de Guadalupe, 2001), 134.

Aun in chimalli yuan matlacpoualli quetzalli ma za niuhtiyez yn piyal yezqui in Diego yuan Baptista = Y el escudo, y las doscientas plumas, que solo asi esten, las tendran Diego y Baptista [nietos] (Tlaxcala, 1581)
Catálogo de documentos escritos en náhuatl, siglo XVI, vol. I (Tlaxcala: Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala y el Archivo Histórico del Estado de Tlaxcala, 2013), 275.

Un "cacique principal y gobernador de Atlacomulco" fue "don Alonso de Aranda Chimal". (Atlacomulco, 1700)
Archivo General de la Nación, México, Ramo de Tierras 1763, exp. 2, f. 32r. Investigación hecha por Stephanie Wood.