abased

en-adj

abased (comparative more abased, superlative most abased)

more abased (comparative)
most abased (superlative)

The blazon will be - A fess abased potentée of Champagne towards the point. The peculiar potent of Champagne may be seen in Bouton, Nouveau Traité de Blason, p. 199 (Paris, 1863.)

(G) Azure 3 bells in fess, abased.

1913, Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, Transactions and Journal of Proceedings, page 107:

Per fess abased nebuly celeste and gules fimbriated argent throughout a pile azure between two rays in point argent bearing a sword in pale point to base of the like, grip gules, […]

1984, Charles A. Ravenstein, Air Force Combat Wings: Lineage and Honors Histories, 1947-1977, page 113:


abatement

en-noun

abatement (countable and uncountable, plural abatements)

From Middle English abatement, from Anglo-Norman abatre (“to abate”) (from Old French abatre), + -ment; equivalent to abate + -ment.

(heraldry) A mark of dishonor on an escutcheon; any figure added to the coat of arms tending to lower the dignity or station of the bearer.


color

color (countable and uncountable, plural colors)

colors (plural)
colour (alternative)
usage notes (alternative)

From Middle English colour, color, borrowed from Anglo-Norman colur, from Old French colour, color, from Latin color. Doublet of couleur.
Displaced English blee, Middle English blee (“color”), from Old English blēo. Also partially replaced Old English hīew (“color”) and its descendants (English hue), which is less often used in this sense.
The spelling color was popularized in modern American English by Noah Webster, to match the spelling of the word's Latin etymon, and make all American spellings of the derivatives consistent (colorimeter, coloration, colorize, colorless, etc).

колори́т

interest, especially in a selective area

(heraldry) Any of the standard dark tinctures used in a coat of arms, including azure, gules, sable, and vert.

kleur

any of the standard dark tinctures used in a coat of arms


orange

orange (countable and uncountable, plural oranges)

→ Esperanto: oranĝo

→ Japanese: オレンジ (orenji)

desc

→ Kashubian: orendż (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 오렌지 (orenji)

→ Makah: ʔo·linčas

→ Malay: oren

→ Marshallese: oran

Etymology tree
Doric Greek μῆλον (mêlon)bor.?
Latin mālum
Italian mela
Proto-Mon-Khmer *lŋaamder.?
Sanskrit नारङ्ग (nāraṅga)bor.
Persian نارنگbor.
Italian arancio
Italian arancia
Old Italian melaranciacalq.
Old French Orengeinflu.
Classical Persian نَارَنْگ (nārang)bor.
Arabic نَارَنْج (nāranj)bor.
Old Occitan auranjainflu.
Old French pomme d'orenge
Old French orenge
Middle French orangebor.
Middle English orenge
English orange
Inherited from Middle English orenge, orange, from Old French pome orenge (“fruit orange”), influenced by the place name Orange (which is from Gaulish and unrelated to the word for the fruit and color) and by Old Occitan auranja and calqued from Old Italian melarancio, melarancia, compound of mela (“apple”) and un'arancia (“an orange”), from Arabic نَارَنْج (nāranj), from Early Classical Persian نَارَنْگْ (nārang), from Sanskrit नारङ्ग (nāraṅga, “orange tree”), ultimately from Dravidian. Compare Tamil நாரங்காய் (nāraṅkāy), compound of நாரம் (nāram, “water”) and காய் (kāy, “fruit”); also Telugu నారంగము, నారింజ (nāraṅgamu, nāriñja), Malayalam നാരങ്ങ (nāraṅṅa), Kannada ನಾರಂಗಿ (nāraṅgi)).
Originally borrowed as the surname (derived from the place name) in the 13th century, before the sense of the fruit was imported in the late 14th century and the color in 1510. In the color sense, largely displaced ġeolurēad, whence yellow-red.

cog

Tamil நாரங்காய் (nāraṅkāy)

నారంగము, నారింజ

橘子

technically "tangerine", but often used as "orange"

there's more than one way to peel an orange

For quotations using this term, see Citations:orange.


achievement

en-noun

achievement (countable and uncountable, plural achievements)

From Middle French achevement (compare Modern French achèvement), from Old French achevement, from the verb achever, achiever (“to finish”); equivalent to achieve + -ment. The heraldic sense may be influenced by hatchment.

Meronyms: shield, supporter, crest, motto

The narrow Gothic windows were filled, not with glass that admitted the light, but with glass painted with the achievements of the family […].

1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 488:

(heraldry) An escutcheon or ensign armorial; a full display or depiction of all the heraldic components to which the bearer of a coat of arms is entitled; (now especially) a funeral shield: the hatchment.


quarter

quarter (countable and uncountable, plural quarters)

From Middle English quarter, from Anglo-Norman quarter, from Latin quartarius, from quartus. Compare Spanish cuarto (“room, quarters; quarter”). Doublet of quartier.

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-quarter.wav

çerek

one of four equal parts — see also one-fourth

(heraldry) A fourth part of a coat of arms, or the charge on it, larger than a canton and normally on the upper dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.


quarter

en-verb

quarter (third-person singular simple present quarters, present participle quartering, simple past and past participle quartered)

quarters (present singular third-person)
quartering (participle present)
quartered (participle past)
quartered (past)

It [the Central London Railway] assumed a modest and entirely heraldic device, quartering the arms of the City of London, the parishes of St. George's, Holborn (St. George and the dragon) and St. Marylebone (the Virgin and Child between two lilies […]), and the county of Middlesex, surmounted by the dragon's wing from the City's crest.

1950 June, Michael Robbins, “Heraldry of London Underground Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 382:

(heraldry) To display different coats of arms in the quarters of a shield.


point

en-noun

point (countable and uncountable, plural points)

→ Cantonese: point

→ Indonesian: poin

→ Japanese: ポイント (pointo)

→ Korean: 포인트 (pointeu)

→ Malay: poin

From Middle English poynt, from Old French point m (“dot; minute amount”), from Latin pūnctum (“a hole punched in; a point, puncture”), substantive use of pūnctus m, perfect passive participle of pungō (“I prick, punch”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- (“prick, punch”)); alternatively, from Old French pointe f (“sharp tip”), from Latin pūncta f (past participle). Displaced native Middle English ord (“point”), from Old English ord (“point”). Doublet of pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, punt, and punto.

kärki

position at the front or vanguard of an advancing force

decimal point

not used when reading decimal fractions aloud

(heraldry) One of the "corners" of the escutcheon: the base (bottom center) unless a qualifier is added (point dexter, point dexter base, point sinister, point sinister base), generally when separately tinctured. (Compare terrace, point champaine, enté en point.)

The point, according to Edmondson, (meaning the point pointed,) is an ordinary somewhat resembling the pile, issuing from the base, as in Plate VII. fig. 24, and is sometimes termed a base point pointed, but the word base is superfluous, as that is the proper place of the point;[…]

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry:

(heraldry, by extension) An ordinary similar to a pile (but sometimes shorter), extending upward from the base. (Often termed a point pointed.)


scarp

Aphetic form of escarp. Doublet of sharp.

[...] as in the seventh, which is Argent a Scarp Azure.

1673, Matthew Carter, Honor Redivivus: Or, The Analysis of Honor and Armory, page 211:

He beareth Argent, a Scarp, Azure.

1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry, page 38:

(heraldry) Obsolete spelling of scarpe, scrape.


abyss

abysses (plural)
abysm (alternative)
abyssus (alternative)
abime (alternative)

From Middle English abissus, from Late Latin abyssus (“a bottomless gulf”), from Ancient Greek ἄβυσσος (ábussos, “bottomless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βυσσός (bussós, “deep place”), from βυθός (buthós, “deep place”). Displaced native Old English neowolnes.


Jupiter

From Latin Iūpiter (“father Jove”), from Proto-Italic *djous patēr (literally “sky father”) (cognate with Ancient Greek Ζεῦ πάτερ (Zeû páter, “father Zeus”)), from *djous (“day, sky”) + *patēr (“father”), from Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws (literally “the bright one”), from *dyew- (“to be bright, day sky”), and *ph₂tḗr (“father”). Doublet of Dyaus Pita.

der

Mercury · Venus · Earth · Mars · Jupiter · Saturn · Uranus · Neptune [edit]

5. Jupiter, a Mace of Majestry in Bend Sol.

1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, in two parts ... second edition ..., pages 76-77:

George [...] 2d. Jupiter, three Fleurs de Lis Sol, for the Arms of France. 3d. Jupiter, an Irish Harp Sol, stringed Luna, for Ireland.

1718, Samuel Kent, The Grammar of Heraldry … Second Edition:

8. Tierce in Mantle, first Mars, two Lions passant-guardant in pale, Sol, for Brunswick; 2d Sol, Semi of Hearts proper, a Lion rampant Jupiter, for Lunenburgh; 3d, ente en Point, Mars, an Horse currant Luna, for Saxony. Note, these Ensigns (which are the paternal Coat of his Majesty King George) I have added as an Example, to shew the Form of what foreign Heralds term Tierce in Mantle, ente en Pointe, &c. […]

1735, Francis Nichols, The Irish Compendium … vol. III of the British Compendium, second edition, page 80:

ARMS. QUARTERLY, in the first grand Quarter Mars, three Lions passant-guardant in Pale, Sol; the Imperial Ensigns of England, impaled with the Royal Arms of Scotland, which are Sol, a Lion rampant within a double Tressure flower'd and counterflower'd with Fleurs-de-lis, Mars. The second Quarter is the Royal Arms of France, viz. Jupiter, three Fleurs-de-lis, Sol. The third, the Ensign of Ireland, which is, Jupiter, an Harp Sol, stringed Luna.

1737, Benjamin Martin, Bibliotheca Technologica: Or, a Philological Library, page 631:

(heraldry, rare) Azure (blue), in the postmedieval practice of blazoning the tinctures of certain sovereigns' (especially British monarchs') coats as planets.


close

en-adj

close (comparative closer, superlative closest)

closer (comparative)
closest (superlative)

open

antonym(s) of “articulated with the tongue body relatively close to the hard palate”

Borrowed from French clos, from Latin clausum, participle of claudō.

close only counts in horseshoes and darts

close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

Crest, a cockatrice, wings close, vert, combed and wattled gu.

1780, Joseph Edmondson, A Complete Body of Heraldry:

Sable, an eagle close or - ROPER, Derby. / Sable, a chevron ermine between three eagles close argent - GAMES, Leicester, granted 1614. / Sable a chevron between three eagles close argent - JERVOISE.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 215:

Arms : Azure, a chevron ermine between three cross - crosslets fitchy argent. Crest : An eagle close argent, ducally gorged.

1902, Lincoln's Inn (London, England), The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn, page 458:

(heraldry, of a bird) With its wings at its side, closed, held near to its body (typically also statant); (of wings) in this posture.


tiger

tigers (plural)
tigre (alternative)
tyger (alternative)

→ Volapük: tigrid

→ Welsh: teigr

Inland Northern American, New England, some speakers

From Middle English tygre, in part from Old English tigras (pl.), in part from Anglo-Norman tigre, both from Latin tigris, from Ancient Greek τίγρις (tígris), from Iranian (compare Avestan 𐬙𐬌𐬔𐬭𐬌 (tigri, “arrow”), 𐬙𐬌𐬖𐬭𐬀 (tiγra, “pointed”)). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to pierce, prick, be sharp”). Compare English stick.

der

The heraldic tiger is a mythical beast, quite unlike a real tiger which is described in heraldry as a Bengal tiger. The ordinary tiger has no stripes, has a horn protruding from its nose, has tusks like a boar and a tufted mane, and has a lion's tail instead of a tiger's.

1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, page 69:

(heraldry) A representation of a large mythological cat, used on a coat of arms.


or

en-noun

or (countable and uncountable, plural ors)

From late Middle English or (“gold”), borrowed from Middle French or (“yellow”), from Old French or, from Latin aurum (“gold”). Doublet of aurum.

The metals are gold and silver, these being termed "or" and "argent".

1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry:

In engraving, "Or" is expressed by dots.

1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

or:

(heraldry) The gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.


or

(heraldry) Of gold or yellow tincture on a coat of arms.

guld

of yellow or gold tincture on a coat of arms


pommy

(heraldry) Semé of (strewn with) pommes (roundels vert).


accident

accident (countable and uncountable, plural accidents)

First attested in the late 14th century. From Middle English accident, from Old French accident, from Latin accidēns, present active participle of accidō (“happen”); from ad (“to”) + cadō (“fall”). See cadence, case. In the sense “unintended pregnancy”, first attested in 1932.

qawwalayla

unexpected event with negative consequences

accident

logic: quality or attribute in distinction from substance

befalling

unexpected event that takes place without foresight or expectation

(heraldry) A point or mark which may be retained or omitted in a coat of arms.


azure

azure (countable and uncountable, plural azures)

azures (plural)
az. (alternative)
b. (alternative)
bl. (alternative)

From Middle English asure, from Old French azur, derived from Arabic لَازَوَرْد (lāzaward, “lapis lazuli”), dropping the l as if it were equivalent to the French article l’. The Arabic is from Classical Persian لاجورد (lājward, “lapis lazuli”), from the region of Lajward in Badakhshan.
Compare with Italian azzurro and Spanish azul.

der

Berington of Chester (on the authority of Harleian manuscript No. 1535) is said to bear a plain shield of azure. Personally I doubt this coat of arms […]

1904, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Art of Heraldry: An Encyclopaedia of Armory, London : T.C.; & E.C. Jack, page 41:

In Bb [Glover's Roll], the conventional letter B is used to indicate azure in most items.

Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy: before 1399: or, a lion rampant azure, differentiated with a label gules (a blue lion rampant on a field of gold, differentiated with a red label signifying the first-born son) […]

2010, E. Baumgaertner Wm E. Baumgaertner, Wm E. Baumgaertner, Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

azure (heraldry):

(heraldry) A blue colour on a coat of arms, represented in engraving by horizontal parallel lines.


azure

‘I forget your coat of arms.’
‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

(heraldry) In blazon, of the colour blue.

azurový

heraldry: of blue colour on a coat of arms


quarterly

The arms of Hohenzollern is quarterly argent and sable.

(heraldry) (of a coat of arms) Divided into four parts crosswise.


quarterly

It consisted of the arms of the City of London, Middlesex (three seaxes, or Saxon swords), Buckingham (a swan), and Hertford (a hart), arranged quarterly, on a background of crimson and ermine mantling […].

1950 June, Michael Robbins, “Heraldry of London Underground Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 380:

(heraldry) In the four, or in two diagonally opposite, quarters of a shield.


rose

en-noun

rose (countable and uncountable, plural roses)

→ Marshallese: rooj

→ Tokelauan: loha

From Middle English rose, roose, from Old English rōse, but with its vowel influenced by Old French rose, both from Latin rosa. The Latin is of uncertain origin, but likely via Oscan from Ancient Greek ῥόδον (rhódon, “rose”) (Aeolic ϝρόδον (wródon)), from Old Persian *vr̥dah (“flower”) (compare Avestan 𐬬𐬀𐬭𐬆𐬜𐬀- (var^əδa-), Sogdian ward, Parthian wâr, late Middle Persian [Term?] (gwl /gul/), Persian گل (gol, “rose, flower”), and Middle Iranian borrowings including Old Armenian վարդ (vard, “rose”), Aramaic וַרְדָּא (wardā) / ܘܪܕܐ (wardā), Arabic وَرْدَة (warda), Hebrew וֶרֶד (wéreḏ)), from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥dʰos (“sweetbriar”) (compare Old English word (“thornbush”), Latin rubus (“bramble”), Albanian hurdhe (“ivy”)). Possibly ultimately a derivation from a verb for "to grow" only attested in Indo-Iranian (*Hwardʰ-, compare Sanskrit वर्धति (vardhati), with relatives in Avestan).

(heraldry) The rose flower, usually depicted with five petals, five barbs, and a circular seed.


emerald

emerald (countable and uncountable, plural emeralds)

→ Welsh: emrald, emrallt

From Middle English emeraude, borrowed from Old French esmeraude, from Vulgar Latin *smaralda, *smaraldus, *smaraudus, variant of Latin smaragdus, from Ancient Greek σμάραγδος (smáragdos), μάραγδος (máragdos), from a Semitic language. Compare Hebrew בָּרֶקֶת (bāréqeṯ, “emerald, flashing gem”), Akkadian 𒁀𒊏𒄣 (baraqu, literally “scintillation”), Arabic بَرْق (barq, literally “flashing”), Egyptian bwyrqꜣ (literally “to sparkle”):D58-Z7-Z4:D21-N29-Z1-G1-D6 and loanwords with Semitic etymon such as Sanskrit मरकत (marakata) and Persian زمرد (zomorrod) (whence Turkish zümrüt and Russian изумру́д (izumrúd)).

cog

16. As the first. Crest, on a Mount Emerald, a Falcon rising Topaz.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 504:

Crest. On a Wreath, a demi Dragon, Emerald, armed and langued, Roby [...] Supporters. Two Dragons reguardant, Emerald, [...]

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 212:

Some of the lagoons, said to have subterranean outlets, have no visible ones; the inclosing island, in such cases, being a complete zone of emerald.

1847 March 30, Herman Melville, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC:

(heraldry) Vert, when blazoning by precious stones.


ruby

en-noun

ruby (countable and uncountable, plural rubies)

From Middle English ruby, rube, from Old French rubi, from Medieval Latin rubīnus.

Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.

1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. [...] Checkie Topaz and Saphire, a Fesse within a Bordure Ruby, by the Name of Clifford.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

(1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks. (2) Topaz, a Chief Indented, Saphire. (3) Ruby, three covered Cups, Topaz [...]

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:


sapphire

sapphire (countable and uncountable, plural sapphires)

→ Tokelauan: hafaila

→ Welsh: saffir

From Middle English saphir, from Old French saphir, from Latin sapphir, sappir, sapphīrus, from Ancient Greek σάπφειρος (sáppheiros, “precious stone, gem”), from a Semitic language such as Hebrew סַפִּיר (sappī́r, “lapis lazuli”), originally from Assyrian Akkadian šipirtu (“lapis lazuli”).

cog

Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; […]

3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset.

(2) Topaz, a Chief Indented, Saphire.

Topaz, on a Cross, Sapphire, a Crosier thrust through a Mitre, Topaz.

1756, Francis Nichols, The Irish Compendium, Or, Rudiments of Honour, Containing the Descent, Marriage, Isssue, Titles, Posts, and Seats, of All the Nobility of Ireland..., page 440:

(heraldry) Azure, when blazoning by precious stones.


amethyst

From Middle English ametist, from Old French ametiste (French améthyste), from Ancient Greek ἀμέθυστος (améthustos, “not drunk”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + μεθύω (methúō, “I am drunk”), from μέθυ (méthu, “wine”).

der

The Field is Topaz, a Lion rampant Amethyst [...]

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd, page 407:

Purple, on the arms of princes Mercury, of peers amethyst, and of commoners purpure, [is represented] by diagonal lines from the sinister chief to the dexter base.

1834, The Art of Heraldry; Explaining the Origin and Use of Arms and Armorial Bearings, Etc, page 14:

1st & 4th grand Quarter alike viz. Field Pearl, on a bend Sapphire 3 Buckheads, coup'd topaz for Stanley. The 2d Quarter, Field Sapphire with an inverted Chief, amethyst. The 3d, A Checque topaz & Amethyst, this seems prior to Bosworth field, to have belong'd to Sr Robt Goushill whose Dr a Stanley married …

1906 (printed), The Beetham Repository, 1770 (eds. William Hutton, John Rawlinson Ford), page 115

(heraldry) The tincture purpure, when blazoning by precious stones.


vert

en-noun

vert (countable and uncountable, plural verts)

From Middle English vert, borrowed from Old French vert, from Vulgar Latin virdis, syncopated from Classical Latin viridis. Doublet of virid, which was borrowed directly from Latin.

vert:

(heraldry) A green colour, now only in heraldry; represented in engraving by diagonal parallel lines 45 degrees counter-clockwise.


vert

en-adj

vert (comparative more vert, superlative most vert)

more vert (comparative)
most vert (superlative)

(heraldry) In blazon, of the colour green.


face

→ Danish: fjæs

→ Norwegian:

Norwegian Bokmål: fjes

Norwegian Nynorsk: fjes

→ Swedish: fejs, fjäs

→ Wu: 番斯 (¹fe-sy)

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-?
Latin faciēs
Late Latin facia
Old French facebor.
Middle English face
English face
From Middle English face, from Old French face, from Late Latin facia, from Latin faciēs (“form, appearance”). Doublet of facies. Displaced native onlete (“face, countenance, appearance”), anleth (“face”), from Old English anwlite, andwlita, compare German Antlitz; Old English ansīen (“face”), Middle English neb (“face, nose”) (from Old English nebb), Middle English ler, leor, leer (“face, cheek, countenance”) (from Old English hlēor), and non-native Middle English vis (“face, appearance, look”) (from Old French vis) and Middle English chere (“face”) from Old French chere.
In the sense of face as in reputation, influenced by Chinese 面子 (miànzi) or 臉／脸 (liǎn), both of which mean literally the front of the head and metaphorically one's public image. See lose face.

noncog

talk to the hand 'cause the face ain't listening

(heraldry) The head of a lion, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.


swan

From Middle English swan, from Old English swan, from Proto-West Germanic *swan, from Proto-Germanic *swanaz (“swan”, literally “the singing bird”), from Proto-Indo-European *swonh₂-/*swenh₂- (“to sing, make sound”).
Cognate with West Frisian swan, Low German Swaan, swan, Dutch zwaan, German Schwan, Danish svane, Norwegian svane, Swedish svan. Related also to Old English ġeswin (“melody, song”), Old English swinsian (“to make melody”).
Further cognates include (possibly) Russian звон (zvon, “ring, chime”); Latin sonus (“sound”), Sanskrit स्वन् (svan, “sound”).
Doublet of sound.

inh

(heraldry) This bird used as a heraldic charge, sometimes with a crown around its neck (e. g. the arms of Buckinghamshire).


ribbon

en-noun

ribbon (countable and uncountable, plural ribbons)

→ Japanese: リボン (ribon)

→ Korean: 리본 (ribon)

From Middle English riban, ryban, ryband, from Old French riban, ruban ( > modern French ruban), of uncertain origin. Likely from a Germanic compound whose second element is cognate with English band. Compare Middle Dutch ringhband (“necklace”, literally “ring-band”).

cog

(heraldry) A bearing similar to the bend, but only one eighth as wide.


bend

From Middle English benden, from Old English bendan (“to bind or bend (a bow), fetter, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bandijan, from Proto-Germanic *bandijaną (“to bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰendʰ- (“to bind, tie”). Cognate with Middle High German benden (“to fetter”), Danish bænde (“to bend”), Norwegian bende (“to bend”), Faroese benda (“to bend, inflect”), Icelandic benda (“to bend”). Related to band, bond.

der

Perhaps the most celebrated coat of arms is that of Scrope, which is Azure a bend Or. This is the coat over which, from 1385 to 1390, Sir Robert le Grosvenor and Sir Richard le Scrope invoked the High Court of Chivalry to decide which of them had the right to bear these arms. Chaucer gave evidence before the court. In the end the arms were awarded to Scrope, and Grosvenor was ordered to difference with a bordure Argent. This he disdained to do, and being highly dissatisfied with the verdict he appealed to Richard II who altered the decision of the court by refusing to allow the bend to Grosvenor at all! Grosvenor then adopted a garb, or sheaf of corn.

1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 63–64:

(heraldry) One of the honourable ordinaries formed by two diagonal lines drawn from the dexter chief to the sinister base; it generally occupies a fifth part of the shield if uncharged, but if charged one third.


cost

From Middle English coste, from Old French coste, from Latin costa. Doublet of coast and cuesta.


hurt

Unclear. Suggestions include: from its resemblance to a blue hurtleberry, or from French heurt (a blow, leaving a blue bruise: compare the theories about golpe (“purple roundel”)).

(heraldry) A roundel azure (blue circular spot).


addition

en-noun

addition (countable and uncountable, plural additions)

Sense of “what is added” dates from 14th century, from Middle English addicioun, addition, from Old French adition, from Latin additiōnem, accusative singular of additiō, from addō (“add, put”).

(heraldry) Something added to a coat of arms, as a mark of honour.


shut

From Middle English shutten, shetten, from Old English scyttan (“to cause rapid movement, shoot a bolt, shut, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skutjaną, *skuttijaną (“to bar, bolt”), from Proto-Germanic *skuttą, *skuttjō (“bar, bolt, shed”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewd- (“to drive, fall upon, rush”).
Cognate with Dutch schutten (“to shut in, lock up”), Low German schütten (“to shut, lock in”), German schützen (“to shut out, dam, protect, guard”).


anchor

→ Chuukese: angko

From Middle English anker, from Old English ancor, ancra, from Latin ancora, from (or cognate with) Ancient Greek ἄγκυρα (ánkura). The modern form is a sixteenth-century modification after the Medieval Latin spelling anchora. Doublet of ancora and anker.

(heraldry) Representation of the nautical tool, used as a heraldic charge.


base

en-noun

base (countable and uncountable, plural bases)

acid

antonym(s) of “chemical compound that will neutralize an alkali”

From Middle English base, bas, baas, from Old French base, from Latin basis, from Ancient Greek βάσις (básis). Doublet of basis and bass.

أَسَاس

something from which other things extend

(heraldry) The lowest third of a shield (or field), or an ordinary occupying this space, the champagne. (Compare terrace.)

skjoldfod

heraldic charge: lowest third of a shield or field


difference

difference (countable and uncountable, plural differences)

From Middle English difference, from Old French difference, from Latin differentia (“difference”), from differēns (“different”), present participle of differre. Doublet of differentia. Morphologically differ + -ence.

know the difference between one's ass and a hole in the ground

know the difference between one's ass and one's elbow

(heraldry) An addition to a coat of arms to distinguish two people's bearings which would otherwise be the same. See augmentation and cadency.


ibex

ibex (plural)
ibexes (plural)
ibices (plural)
ibecks (alternative)

From Latin ībex (“chamois”), possibly from Iberian or Aquitanian; akin to Old Spanish bezerro (“bull”) (modern becerro (“yearling”)).

(heraldry) An imaginary creature with serrated horns, somewhat similar to the heraldic antelope.


ermine

ermine (countable and uncountable, plural ermines or ermine)

From Middle English ermine, ermin, ermyn, from Old French ermin, ermine, hermine.
There are two main theories for the origin of Old French ermine. Germanic origin is suggested via Old Dutch *harmino (“stoat skin”), from *harmo (“stoat, weasel”) (compare Dutch hermelijn and dialectal herm), from Proto-Germanic *harmǭ, *harmô (compare Old English hearma, Old High German harmo (harmin (adjective), obsolete German Harm), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱormō (compare Romansch carmun, obsolete Lithuanian šarmuõ). Romance sources identify the animal with the corresponding word for Armenian, possibly from Medieval Latin mūs Armenius (“Armenian mouse”) or a posterior compound.

der

(heraldry) The fur of this animal, used as a heraldic tincture: a white field with a repeating pattern of stylized black spots.

hermelín

(heraldry) a white field with black spots


ermine

(heraldry) In blazon, of the colour ermine (white with black spots).

hermelínový

of white colour with black spots on a coat of arms


plate

(heraldry) A roundel of silver or argent.


metal

en-noun

metal (countable and uncountable, plural metals)

nonmetal

antonym(s) of “any of a number of chemical elements in the periodic table that form a metallic bond with other metal atoms”

From Middle English metal, a borrowing from Old French metal, from Latin metallum (“metal, mine, quarry, mineral”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek μέταλλον (métallon, “mine, quarry, metal”).

аметалл

atomic element or material made of such atoms

(heraldry) A light tincture used in a coat of arms, specifically argent (white or silver) and or (gold).


field

→ Japanese: フィールド (fīrudo)

From Middle English feeld, feld, from Old English feld, from Proto-West Germanic *felþu, from Proto-Germanic *felþuz (“field”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“field, plain”) or *pleth₂- (“flat”) (with schwebeablaut).
Cognate with Scots feld, feild (“field”), North Frisian fjild (“field”), West Frisian fjild (“field”), Dutch veld (“field”), German Feld (“field”), Swedish fält (“field”). Related also to Old English folde (“earth, land, territory”), Old English folm (“palm of the hand”). More at fold.

veld

land area free of woodland, cities, and towns; open country

fushë

sports: area reserved for playing a game

fushë

physics: region affected by a particular force

Euclidean domain ⊂ principal ideal domain ⊂ unique factorization domain

Noetherian domain ⊂ integral domain ⊂ commutative ring

Any of various figurative meanings, often dead metaphors.

A physical or virtual location for the input of information in the form of symbols.

(heraldry) The background of the shield.


earl

From Middle English erl, erle, from Old English eorl, from Proto-West Germanic *erl, from Proto-Germanic *erlaz (compare Old Saxon erl, Old Norse jarl), from Proto-Germanic *erōną, *arōną (compare Old Norse jara (“fight, battle”)). Doublet of eorl and jarl. Unrelated to ealdorman (“alderman”).

(nobility) A British or Irish nobleman next in rank above a viscount and below a marquess; equivalent to a European count. A female using the style is termed a countess.

эрл

in Anglo-Saxon England before Norman conquest


party

From Middle English party, from Old French parti (“parted”), from Latin partītus (“parted”), past participle of partiō (“to divide”). More at part.

an escutcheon party per pale

(heraldry) Parted or divided, as in the direction or form of one of the ordinaries.


device

From Middle English devis, devise, devyce, devys, devyse, from Old French devis and devise, from Latin dīvīsus, past participle of dīvidō (“to divide”). Doublet of devise (noun).

1736. O'Callaghan, Edmund Bailey. The Documentary History of the State of New York Chapter I, Article III: Enumeration of the Indian Tribes.
The devices of these savages are the serpent, the Deer, and the Small Acorn.

(heraldry) A motto, emblem, or other mark used to distinguish the bearer from others. A device differs from a badge or cognizance primarily as it is a personal distinction, and not a badge borne by members of the same house successively.


mask

Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā from which English mesh is regularly inherited.
Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
Compare also Hebrew מַסֵּכָה (masseiḥa).

maski

two-color bitmap used to create transparency in an image

(heraldry) The head of a fox, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears.


pomme

pommes (plural)
pommeis (plural)
pomey (alternative)

Borrowed from French pomme, ultimately from Latin poma. Doublet of pome.

(heraldry) A roundel vert (green circular spot), resembling or representing an apple.


pellet

→ Catalan: pèl·let

Inherited from Middle English pelote, pelet, from Old French pelote (“small ball”), from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, diminutive of Latin pila (“ball”). Doublet of pelota.

(heraldry) A roundel sable (black circular spot).


legend

en-noun

legend (countable and uncountable, plural legends)

From Middle English legende, from Old French legende, from Medieval Latin legenda (“a legend, story, especially the lives of the saints”), from Latin legenda (“things which ought to be read”), from lego (“I read”).

legende

any person of extraordinary accomplishment

[…]there were three small brass coins there, the gift of Ymar. Their legends, like their faces, had worn away; and they were dark with verdigris — in appearance precisely the ancient things they were.

1987, Gene Wolfe, chapter XLVIII, in The Urth of the New Sun, 1st US edition, New York: Tor Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 281:

(numismatics, heraldry) An inscription, motto, or title, especially one surrounding the field in a medal or coin, or placed upon a heraldic shield or beneath an engraving or illustration.


premier

Borrowed from Middle French premier (adjective), from Latin prīmārius. Doublet of primary.

PREMIER, a. This French word, which signifies first, is used by English Heralds to signify the most ancient Peer of any Degree by Creation; as Premier Baron, &c.

[1777, Antoine Pyron du Marte, Mr. Porny, The Elements of Heraldry:

[…]dau. of Lord Forbes, Premier Baron of Scotland (the Cumine family were of very ancient date[…])

1882, Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, page 1390:

"THE PREMIER DUKES OF FRANCE. " It will be seen from the autograph appended [...] He was the first to arrive, but it was to his coachman that he owed it that he became the premier Duke of France.

1890, William Thomas Stead, The Review of Reviews, page 327:

(heraldry) Most ancient; first to hold a specified status.


augmentation

en-noun

augmentation (countable and uncountable, plural augmentations)

From Middle English augmentation, augmentacion, augmentacioun, from Old French augmentacion, from Latin augmentātiō, verbal noun from augmentō (“increase”, verb).

(heraldry) A particular mark of honour, granted by the sovereign in consideration of some noble action, or by favour; and either quartered with the family arms, or on an escutcheon or canton.

augmentie

in heraldry: a particular mark of honour


ordinary

ordinaries (plural)
ordinarie (alternative)

/ˈɔɹdɪnɛ(ə)ɹi/

From Anglo-Norman ordenarie, ordenaire et al., Middle French ordinaire, and their source, Medieval Latin ordinarius, noun use of Latin ōrdinārius (“regular, orderly”), from ōrdō (“order”).

(heraldry) One of the standard geometric designs placed across the center of a coat of arms, such as a pale or fess.


fireball

/ˈfaɪəɹˌbɔl/

Chelyabinsk meteor
Nevada Test Site
Operation Upshot–Knothole

The noun is derived from fire (noun) + ball (noun). The adjective and verb are derived from the noun.

tulipallo

bag or ball filled with combustible material; (heraldry) charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell

(weaponry, historical) A bag or ball filled with combustible material which is thrown as a weapon or to set something alight.

(heraldry) A charge depicting a disc-shaped bombshell with flames emitted from the top, or sometimes from the top, bottom, and on either side.


jambe

From Middle English jambe, jaumbe, French jambe. Doublet of gam, gamb, gamba, and jamb.

Lion's jambe, erased, grasping a laurel branch.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry: Dictionary of Heraldry:

[Image of a human leg in armor.] Crest - A jambe, unarmed, excepting the spur, quarterly, or and sa.

1844, John Burke, Bernard Burke, Encyclopædia of Heraldry: Or General Armory of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Comprising a Registry of All Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time, Including the Late Grants by the College of Arms:

If couped or erased at the middle joint, it is not a jambe but a paw, as in the example given under Seal, q.v. Or, a lion's jambe inverted and erased in bend gules—Powis. Gules, three lion's jambes erased and inverted argent—Newdigate, Surrey.
Or, a lion's jambe inverted and erased in bend gules. Powis. Gules, three lion's jambes erased and inverted argent.

1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 171:

... by the side of which is a pheasant, and at his feet there is a lion's jambe with the claws retracted.

1889, Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (Great Britain), Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, page 16:

“Over all, on an escutcheon of the first, a jambe gules.” “A jambe gules erased,” said Sir Nigel, shaking his head solemnly. “Yet it is not amiss for a monkbred man. I trust that you are lowly and serviceable?”

1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Works of A. Conan Doyle: The white company, page 167:

(heraldry) A leg, of an animal or person.


accosted

Capadose (Amsterdam, The Hague): Divided, 1, sinople, two small angels proper, affronté in chief, holding together a mantle gules, lined ermine, in point a beehive or, put upon a terrace proper; the beehive accosted by four bees or, and accompanied by two other bees or, brochant upon the terrace underneath the beehive; [...]

1907, Cyrus Adler, Isidore Singer, The Jewish Encyclopedia, page 127:

(heraldry) Supported on both sides by other charges.

Barrett, impaling, A chevron between six rams accosted, counter-tripping, two, two, and two (Harman of Rendlesham and […]

1887, Edmund Farrer, The Church Heraldry of Norfolk: pt. I., page 253:

(Gules, two ash trees accosted or, surmounted by a falcon of the same.)

1925, National Americana Society, Americana Illustrated, page 550:


bar

bar (countable and uncountable, plural bars)

→ Albanian: bar m

→ Arabic: بَار m (bār)

→ Armenian: բար (bar)

→ Bulgarian: бар (bar)

→ Burmese: ဘား (bha:)

→ Chichewa: bála

→ Cantonese: 吧 (baa¹)

→ Czech: bar m

→ Danish: bar c

→ Dutch: bar m

→ Esperanto: baro

→ Estonian: baar

→ French: bar m
→ Romanian: bar

→ Galician: bar m

→ Georgian: ბარი (bari)

→ German: Bar f

→ Greek: μπαρ n (bar)

→ Gulf Arabic: بار (bār)

→ Hebrew: בָּר (bar), בָּאר (bár)

→ Hungarian: bár (also via German)

→ Icelandic: bar m

→ Irish: beár m

→ Italian: bar m

→ Japanese: バー (bā)

→ Khmer: បារ (baa)

→ Korean: 바 (ba)

→ Lithuanian: bãras m

→ Macedonian: бар m (bar)

→ Malagasy: ba

→ Mandarin: 吧 (bā)

→ Norwegian:

Bokmål: bar m

Nynorsk: bar m

→ Persian: بار (bâr)

→ Polish: bar m

→ Portuguese: bar m

→ Russian: бар m (bar)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ба̑р m, bȃr m

→ Slovene: bȃr m

→ Spanish: bar m

→ Swahili: baa

→ Swedish: bar c (see there for further descendants)

→ Thai: บาร์ (baa)

→ Turkish: bar

→ Xhosa: íbhári

→ Zulu: ibha

From Middle English barre, from Old French barre (“beam, bar, gate, barrier”), from Vulgar Latin *barra, of uncertain origin. Doublet of barre.

der

(heraldry) One of the ordinaries in heraldry; a diminutive of a fess.


detriment

en-noun

detriment (countable and uncountable, plural detriments)

From Old French detriement, from Latin detrimentum (“loss, damage, literally a rubbing off”), from dēterere (“to rub off, wear”), from dē- (“down, away”) + terere (“to rub”).
Detriment is based off the word deter, and built on similar foundations to the word impediment.

der

Argent, a Moon in her detriment or Eclipse Sable[…]

1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry … second edition, page 110:

Moon in its Detriment, or Wane

1729, Abel Boyer, Le Grand théâtre de l'honneur et de noblesse (overall work in French and English), page 105:

Argent; a Moon in her detriment, Sable. This word is used in heraldry to denote her being eclipsed.

1797, Encyclopaedia Britannica, page 457:

When sable, the moon is said to be in her detriment.

1845, Edward Smedley, Encyclopaedia Metropolitana, page 610:

(heraldry, of the moon) The position or state of being eclipsed, entirely dark (sable).


cross

→ Japanese: クロス (kurosu)

From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rood, from Old English rōd; see rood. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois.
The sense of "two intersecting lines drawn or cut on a surface; two lines intersecting at right angles" without regard to religious signification develops from the late 14th century.
Cognates
*Icelandic kross (“cross”)
*Faroese krossur (“cross”)
*Norwegian Nynorsk kross, kors (“cross”)
*Danish kors (“cross”)
*Swedish kors (“cross”)
*North Frisian kross, korss (“cross”)
*Saterland Frisian Krjuus, Kjus (“cross”)
*West Frisian krús (“cross”)
*Dutch kruis (“cross”)
*German Low German Krüüz (“cross”)
*German Kreuz (“cross”)

(heraldry) Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.


check

By shortening from chequer, from Old French eschequier (“chessboard”), from Medieval Latin scaccarium, ultimately from the same Persian root as above.

CHECKY, [...] Checky, according to Colombiere, is one of the most noble and ancient figures [...] Checky is always composed of metal, and colour. [...] So that if that be or, and the next gules, the house or family is said to bear check, or, and gules. When the whole shield is not chequered , but only the chief, a bend, cross, or the like, the number of ranges should be expressed.

1741, Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopaedia: Or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (etc.) 5. Ed:

He died about 1270; and his son, Sir Robert, assisted the brave Sir William Wallace, and died in 1800. BOYD ARMS. Azure, a fesse check, argent et gules.

1825, Robert Trotter (the Younger.), Derwentwater; Or, the Adherents of King James. A Tale of the First Rebellion. With an Appendix, Containing Genealogical Notices and Anecdotes of Several Ancient and Honourable Families, page 115:

(heraldry, rare, possibly only as a printing error) Checky, i.e. chequy.


leopard

leopards (plural)
lybard (alternative)
libbard (alternative)

From Middle English leopard, leopart, lepard, leperd, from Old French leopard (“leopard”), from Late Latin leopardus (“leopon, lipard”) from late Ancient Greek λεόπαρδος (leópardos, “leopon, lipard”), from λέων (léōn, “lion”) + πάρδος (párdos, “pard, male leopard”), from earlier πάρδαλις (párdalis, “leopard”), probably from an unattested Old Persian [Term?] term ancestral to Middle Persian palang, Khwarezmian plyk, Sogdian [script needed] (pwrδnk), Pashto پړانګ (pṛāng). Compare Persian پلنگ (palang) and Sanskrit पृदाकु (pṛdāku, “panther”).

tier

a large wild cat with a spotted coat, Panthera pardus

Naakaii Łizhiní Bikéyahdę́ę́ʼ náshdóítsoh łikizhígíí

leopon

hybrid formed by a leopard and a lioness

lipard

hybrid formed by a lion and a leopardess

Sometimes there is confusion over the heraldic leopard, the question being—When is a leopard not a leopard? There is a theory that the lion and leopard were the same thing, and that they were named entirely depending on their attitude—thus if the animal was passant guardant it was a leopard, but when rampant it was a lion. Nowadays a leopard is the genuine spotted article and quite unmistakeable. Some people still speak, wrongly, of the leopards of England, but it does no great harm as it is an ancient expression and everybody knows what it means.

1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 68–69:


fountain

From Middle English [Term?]; from Old French fontaine (whence modern fontaine); from Late Latin fontana, from Latin fontanus, fontaneus, adjectives from fons (“source, spring”).

Crest : A boar's head couped gold semy of fountains armed gules. Motto : REMIS VELISQUE. Granted by the College of Arms 1966.

1928, New England Historic Genealogical Society. Committee on Heraldry, A Roll of Arms:

Argent, seme of fountains on a chief azure a Lorraine cross and an oak leaf of the first. Crest, None. Motto, Able and Ready. The blue of the shield represents Infantry. The fountains are emblematic of Arizona,[…]

1953, United States. Department of the Army. Office of Military History, The Army Lineage Book, page 828:

(heraldry) A roundel barry wavy argent and azure.


proper

en-adj

proper (comparative more proper, superlative most proper)

more proper (comparative)
most proper (superlative)
propa (alternative)
propre (alternative)

From Middle English propre, from Anglo-Norman proper, propre, Old French propre (French: propre), from Latin proprius.

(heraldry) Portrayed in natural or usual coloration, as opposed to conventional tinctures.

luonnonvärinen

heraldry: having its natural or usual coloration


pale

From Middle English pale, pal, borrowed from Old French pal, from Latin pālus (“stake, prop”). English inherited the word pole (or, rather Old English pāl) from a much older Proto-Germanic borrowing of the same Latin word.
Doublet of peel and pole.

(heraldry) A vertical band down the middle of a shield.


cant

en-noun

cant (usually uncountable, plural cants)

From Latin cantō probably via Old Northern French canter (“sing, tell”). Doublet of chant.

Homophone: Kant (in anglicized pronunciation)

(countable, heraldry) A blazon of a coat of arms that makes a pun upon the name (or, less often, some attribute or function) of the bearer, canting arms.

sprekend wapen

heraldry: blazon that makes a pun, canting arms


cant

en-verb

cant (third-person singular simple present cants, present participle canting, simple past and past participle canted)

cants (present singular third-person)
canting (participle present)
canted (participle past)
canted (past)

(intransitive, heraldry) Of a blazon, to make a pun that references the bearer of a coat of arms.


timbre

en-noun

timbre (countable and uncountable, plural timbres)

From French timbre, ultimately from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (túmpanon, “drum”). Doublet of tympanum, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

doublet

Quarterly the First quarter Siluer …, The second Siluer a Cheueron gules betweene three Castles Sables And to his timbre vpon his healme, an Elephants head in his proper Colours […]

1492, "Confirmation of arms with difference and crest to Thomas and John Elyott by John Writhe, Garter, dated 7th July, 1492 (MS. queen's Coll. 139, No. 13.)", in 1925, Willoughby Aston Littledale, A Collection of Miscellaneous Grants, Crests, Confirmations, Augmentations and Exemplifications of Arms in the Mss. Preserved in the British Museum, Ashmolean Library, Queen's College, Oxford, and Elsewhere, page 70

The basilican pavilion [...] has frequently appeared on banners since the 13th century, but the pope has used it only rarely, as a timbre or crest above his coat of ARMS (a few examples exist from the time of MARTIN V).

2002, Philippe Levillain, John W. O'Malley, The Papacy: Gaius-Proxies, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 1145:

(heraldry, uncommon) The crest on a (helmet atop a) coat of arms.


label

→ Danish: label

→ Dutch: label

→ French: label

desctree

→ Japanese: ラベル (raberu)
→ Korean: 라벨 (rabel)

→ Korean: 레이블 (reibeul)

→ Malay: label

→ Polish: label

→ Welsh: label

From Middle English label (“narrow band, strip of cloth”), from Old French label, lambel (Modern French lambeau), from Frankish *lappā (“torn piece of cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *lappǭ, *lappô (“cloth stuff, rag, scraps, flap, dewlap, lobe, rabbit ear”), from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“blade”). Cognate with Old High German lappa (“rag, piece of cloth”), Old English læppa (“skirt, flap of a garment”). More at lap.

cog

(heraldry) A charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung.


diamond

en-noun

diamond (countable and uncountable, plural diamonds)

From Middle English dyamaunt, from Old French diamant, from Late Latin diamās, from Latin adamās, from Ancient Greek ἀδάμᾱς (adámās, “diamond”). Doublet of adamant. The printing sense is a calque of Dutch diamant, used by Dirck Voskens who first cut it around 1700; compare pearl, ruby (“size of type between pearl and nonpareil”).

der

Elphingston. Pearl a Chevron Diamond between three Boars Heads Eraz'd Ruby, arm'd of the first. / Eymouth. Diamond a Lyon Rampant Pearl, on a Canton of the 2d, a Cross Ruby.

1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. The Armes of the most Noble and Puissant Lord, Edward Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and Baron of Atherdee in the Kingdom of Ireland. His Lordship's Atchievements are Quarterly of sixteen Coats. 1. Brabazon, as above. 2. Diamond, on a Chevron between three Pickaxes Pearl, as many Mullets Ruby, by the Name of Mosley. 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

Pearl, an Eagle, Diamond, between three Crosses Patee, Ruby, for Morrys.

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:

(heraldry) Sable, when blazoning by precious stones.


sea lion

sea lions (plural)
sea-lion (alternative)
sealion (alternative)

From sea + lion, named from its marine habitat and its lion-like barking roar and mane. Compare Middle English see hound, cee-hound, se hound (“beaver”, literally “sea-hound”).

(heraldry) A monster consisting of the upper part of a lion combined with the tail of a fish (a lion marined).


basilisk

basilisks (plural)
basilisc (alternative)

From Middle English basilicke, borrowed from Old French basilique, from Latin basiliscus, from Ancient Greek βασιλίσκος (basilískos) (literally "minor king or chieftain", possibly based on descriptions or rare encounters with different types of cobra which have crown-like patterns on their head; the "deadly gaze" could have been from the spitting cobra's ability to spit venom into the eyes of predators or prey from a distance), from βασιλεύς (basileús, “king”). The cognitohazard/infohazard sense is by analogy with the deadly gaze of the mythical creature.

(heraldry) A type of dragon used in heraldry.


lattice

→ Japanese: ラティス (ratisu)

From Middle English latis, from Middle French lattis (“lathing”), from Old French lattis, from latte (“a lath”), from Frankish *lattā, *lattu (“a lath”), from Proto-Germanic *lattǭ, *lattō, *laþþō (“board; plank; ledge”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)latn-, *(s)lat- (“beam; log”). Cognate with Old High German latta (“lath”), (German Latte), Old English lætt (“lath”), Middle Low German lāde (“plank, counter, sales counter”), German Laden (“shop”). More at lath.

cog

(heraldry) A bearing with vertical and horizontal bands that cross each other.


chief

→ Japanese: チーフ (chīfu)

→ Swahili: chifu

From Middle English cheef, chef, from Old French chef, chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput. Doublet of cape (“point of land”), capo, caput, and chef through Latin (possibly also related to cape (“sleeveless garment”) and cap (“head covering”) from Latin cappa); doublet of head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

doublet

When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".

1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

(heraldry) The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third.


Saturn

From Old English Sætern, from Latin Sāturnus, probably from Etruscan 𐌔𐌀𐌕𐌓𐌄 (satre), plausibly influenced by Latin satus, past participle of serere (“to sow”).

12. Venus, a Staff in Pale Sol, and thereupon a Cross Pattee, Luna surmounted off a Pall of the last, charged with 4. like Crosses fitched Saturn, edged and stringed as the second. This Coat belongs to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury, to whose place it appertains to Crown and Inaugurate the Kings of England.

1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, in two parts ... second edition ..., pages 76-77:

[…] The Field is Luna, a Chevron, Mars, between three Bull's Heads couped Saturn, armed Sol. This Coat-Armour pertained to the Right Noble Family of Thomas Bulleine Lord hoo and Hastings, Viscount Rochford, […] [pages 200-201:] I have omitted, in this Edition, that Escucheon Sol, charged with three Toads erected Saturn, which, according to some Authors, was the Coat-Armour of the ancient Kings of France; […]

1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry, page 151:

The Archiepiscopal See of Armagh bears Jupiter, a Pastoral Staff in Pale Luna, ensigned with a Cross Pattee Sol, surmounded by a Pall of the second, edged and fringed of the third, charged with four like Crosses Pattee Fitched Saturn.

1739, James Ware, Walter Harris, The Whole Works of Sir James Ware Concerning Ireland, volume 1, page 1:

(heraldry, rare) Sable (black), in the postmedieval practice of blazoning the tinctures in the arms of certain sovereign people and places as planets.


sinister

en-adj

sinister (comparative more sinister, superlative most sinister)

more sinister (comparative)
most sinister (superlative)
sinistre (alternative)

From Middle English sinistre (“unlucky”), from Old French senestre, sinistre (“left”), from Latin sinister (“left hand”).

(heraldry) On the left side of a shield from the wearer's standpoint, and the right side to the viewer.


alternate

From Latin alternō (“take turns”), from alternus (“one after another, by turns”), from alter (“other”) + -rnus. See altern, alter.

Goldschmidt (Austria; creation July 27, 1862): [...] party, argent and gules, an eagle of alternate colors, [...]

1925, The Jewish Encyclopedia: Chazars-Dreyfus Case, page 128:

Happening by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; first one and then the other (repeatedly).

(heraldry) Alternating; (of e.g. a pair of tinctures which a charge is coloured) succeeding in turns, or (relative to the field) counterchanged.


ancient

[…] diſcarded, vniuſt ſeruingmen, yonger ſonnes to yonger brothers, reuolted tapſters, and Oſtlers, tradefalne, the cankers of a calme world, and a long peace, ten times more diſhonourable ragged then an olde fazd ancient, […]

c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:

I got all things ready as he had directed, and waited the next morning with the boat washed clean, her ancient and pendants out, and everything to accommodate his guests..

1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

(heraldry, archaic) A flag, banner, standard or ensign.


ensign

en-verb

ensign (third-person singular simple present ensigns, present participle ensigning, simple past and past participle ensigned)

ensigns (present singular third-person)
ensigning (participle present)
ensigned (participle past)
ensigned (past)

From Middle English ensigne, from Old French enseigne, from Latin īnsignia, nominative plural of īnsigne, meaning marked, distinguished. Doublet of insignia.

Any charge which has a crown immediately above or upon it, is said to be ensigned.

(heraldry) To distinguish by an ornament, especially by a crown.


crescent

From Middle English cressaunt, from Anglo-Norman cressaunt and Old French creissant (“crescent of the moon”) (French croissant), from Latin crēscēns, present active participle of crēscō (“arise, thrive”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱreh₁- (“to grow”). See Old Armenian սերիմ (serim, “be born”) and սերեմ (serem, “bring forth”), Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl”) and κούρος (koúros, “boy”), Latin creāre (“produce, create, bring forth”) and Ceres (“goddess of agriculture”). Doublet of croissant.
The pronunciation with /z/ is a comparatively recent innovation due to the influence of words such as pheasant and present.

der

Something shaped like a crescent, especially:

(heraldry) The emblem of the waxing moon with horns directed upward, when used in a coat of arms; often used as a mark of cadency to distinguish a second son and his descendants.

makaava kuu

heraldry: waxing Moon with horns directed upward


queue

From Middle English queue, quew, qwew, couwe, from Anglo-Norman queue, keu and Old French cöe, cue, coe (“tail”), from Vulgar Latin cōda, from Latin cauda. See also Middle French queu, cueue. Doublet of coda.

HESSE: Az., a lion, queue fourchée, rampt., barry of ten, arg. and gu., crowned, or, and holding in his dexter paw a sword, ppr., hilt and pommel, gold.

1863, Charles Boutell, A Manual of Heraldry, page 369:


bottom

en-noun

bottom (countable and uncountable, plural bottoms)

→ Dutch: bottom

→ French: bottom

PIE word
 *bʰudʰmḗn
From Middle English botme, botom, from Old English botm, bodan (“bottom, foundation; ground, abyss”), from Proto-West Germanic *butm, from Proto-Germanic *butmaz, *budmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰudʰmḗn (“bottom”). Cognate with Dutch bodem, German Boden, Icelandic botn, Danish bund; also Irish bonn (“sole (of foot)”), Ancient Greek πυθμήν (puthmḗn, “bottom of a cup or jar”), Sanskrit बुध्न (budhna, “bottom”), Persian بن (bon, “bottom”), Latin fundus (“bottom”) (whence fund, via French). The sense “posterior of a person” is from 1794; the verb “to reach the bottom of” is from 1808. bottom dollar (“the last dollar one has”) is from 1882.

سَالِب

gay sexual slang: penetrated partner in sex

Edward Hoby of Bisham in Berkshire, Esq; Or, a Fess, Sable, between three Hobby-Hawks, proper; otherwise, Azure, three Bottoms in Fess, Gules.

1724, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldry, page 207:

BOTTOM, a trundle or quill of gold thread. See TRUNDLE. Argent three bottoms, in fess gules, the thread or; name, Hoby, of Badland.

1866, Hugh Clark, An Introduction to Heraldry ... Eighteenth edition. Revised and corrected by J. R. Planché, page 99:

[...] three “bottoms or clewes” (elsewhere called “spindles” or “fusils upon slippers”) in fesse gules threaded or, for Badlond;

1873, Henry Sydney Grazebrook, The Heraldry of Worcestershire, page 285:

(heraldry, rare) A trundle or spindle of thread.


coat of arms

From Middle English cote of armes, from Old French cote a armer, cote d'armes, originally a tunic embroidered with heraldic arms.

(heraldry) Hereditary designs and symbols depicted on an escutcheon, sometimes accompanied by other elements of a heraldic achievement, such as a helm, crest, crest coronet, torse, mantling and supporters; described by a blazon.

агерб

hereditary design depicted on an escutcheon

våbenmærke

the heraldic symbol shown without the shield

វរលញ្ឆករ

vĕəʼrĕəʼlañchaʼkɑɑ


canton

1530s, from Middle French canton, from Old French canton (“corner”); heraldic sense from the 1570s, geographic sense from c. 1600.

The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms.

1662 August 31 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 21 August 1662]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, →OCLC:

(heraldry) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.


und

From Middle English unde (“a wave”), from either the Old French unde or Latin unda (“wave”). Doublet of water, ultimately from the same Indo-European root.

My Noble Lord, / AFter a long inquiry about the Arms of your Lordships antient House, and the turning of sundry Books of Impresaes and Herauldry, I found your UNDES famous and very honourable. / In our neighbour Countrey of England they are born, but inversed upside down, and diversified. Torquato Tasso in his Rinaldo maketh mention of a Knight who had a Rock placed in the Waves with the Word Rompe ch'il percote. And other hath the Seas waves with a Syren rising out of them, the word Bella Maria, which is the name of some Courtezan.

, William Drummond, letter "To the Right Honourable the Earl of Perth" in The history of Scotland, from the year 1423 until the year 1542 containing the lives and reigns of James the I, the II, the III, the IV, the V : with several memorials of state, during the reigns of James VI & Charls I

The house of Chedle yet after this diuiding it selfe into two branches, John Basset of new place (being of the yoonger house) left the Labell, and charged the blacke vnds with manie besants dispersed all ouer them.

1592, William Wyrley, The true vse of armorie, page 12:

A Devise may also be handsomely framed from two different Coats of Armes, as of the Husband and his Wife, of two friends, of two Kings, of two States united and confederate. Will you have an example of it, taken out of our Author Bargagli? A Husband bearing Vnde in his armes, and his Wife Roses, gave occasion to joyne them together in one Blazon, with these words, IRRIGATÆ VIVATIORES, i.e. they are more lively when they are watered.

1650, Henry Estienne, Thomas Blount, The art of making devises […] :

(heraldry) A billow- or wave-like marking.


closet

→ Czech: klozet

→ Polish: klozet

→ Spanish: clóset

→ Welsh: closet

From Middle English closet, from Old French closet, from clos (“private space”) + -et (diminutive suffix), from Latin clausum. Equivalent to close + -et, but generally applied in French solely to small open-air enclosures.

cupboard

storage area set into a wall, used for storing food or dishware

cupboard

piece of furniture, used for storing food or dishware

Coordinate term: barrulet

A Closset is the halfe of the Barre, and tenne of them maie be borne in one fielde.

1572, J. Bossewell, Wks. Armorie, page 12:

(heraldry) An ordinary similar to a bar but half as broad.


Agnus Dei

en-noun

Agnus Dei (plural Agnus Deis or Agnus Dei)

Borrowed from Latin Agnus Deī (“Lamb of God”).

(Roman Catholicism, heraldry) A small model, picture, or heraldic representation of a lamb with a cross and sometimes a flag (usually white with a red cross).


stain

From Middle English steinen, steynen (“to stain, colour, paint”), of North Germanic origin, from Old Norse steina (“to stain, colour, paint”), from steinn (“stone, mineral blue, colour, stain”), from Proto-Norse ᛊᛏᚨᛁᚾᚨᛉ (stainaʀ), from Proto-Germanic *stainaz (“stone”), from Proto-Indo-European *steyh₂- (“to stiffen”). Cognate with Old English stān (“stone”). More at stone.
Replaced native Middle English wem (“spot, blemish, stain”), from Old English wamm (“spot, stain”).
In some senses, influenced by unrelated Middle English disteynen (“to discolor, remove the colour from"; literally, "de-colour”), from Anglo-Norman desteindre (“to remove the colour from, bleach”), from Old French destaindre (“to remove the color from, bleach”), from des- (“dis-, de-, un-”) + teindre (“to dye”), from Latin tingo.

noncog

(heraldry) One of a number of non-standard tinctures used chiefly in post-medieval heraldry, especially tenné, murrey, or sanguine.


blaze

en-verb

blaze (third-person singular simple present blazes, present participle blazing, simple past and past participle blazed)

blazes (present singular third-person)
blazing (participle present)
blazed (participle past)
blazed (past)

From Middle English blasen (“to blow”), from Old English *blǣsan, from Proto-West Germanic *blāsan, from Proto-Germanic *blēsaną (“to blow”). Related to English blast.

And nowe here is another crosse for your learning, and is thus blazed. The field is Argét, a playn crosse Gules, voyded of the first.

1576, Gerard LEGH, The Accedens of Armory. With an address to the Reader by R. Argoll. Woodcuts. MS. notes, page 28:

[...] yée thal blaze his Armes thus. A. beareth Argent, and Sable parted per Pale.

1597, John Bossewell, Works of Armorie: devided into 3 Bookes, intituled the Concordes of Armorie, the Armorie of Honor and of lotes and creastes, page 28:

Beinge thus blazed: Henzell On a ffeild Gules, beareth Three Acornes Slipped Or; Two and One.

1877, Henry Sydney Grazebrook, Collections for a genealogy of the noble families of Henzey, Tyttery, and Tyzack, page 26:


badge

→ Gulf Arabic: باجة (bāja)

→ Japanese: バッジ (bajji)

→ Korean: 배지 (baeji)

From Middle English badge, bagge, bage, bagy, from Anglo-Norman bage or Medieval Latin bagea, bagia (“sign, emblem”), of uncertain origin. Possibly derived from Medieval Latin baga (“ring”), from Old Saxon bāg, bōg (“ring, ornament”), from Proto-Germanic *baugaz (“ring, bracelet, armband”); or possibly the Anglo-Norman word is derived from an earlier, unattested English word (compare Old English bēag (“ring, bracelet, collar, crown”). Cognate with Scots bagie, badgie, bawgy (“badge”).

cog

(heraldry) A distinctive mark worn by servants, retainers, and followers of royalty or nobility, who, being beneath the rank of gentlemen, have no right to armorial bearings.


wyvern

wyverns (plural)
wivern (alternative)
wiver (alternative)
wyver (alternative)

Alteration of Middle English wyver (“viper”), borrowed from Old Northern French wivre, from Latin vīpera (“viper; snake, serpent”). Doublet of weever and viper.

The jargon of heraldry, its griffins, its moldwarps, its wyverns, and its dragons.

1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:

Notions of freedom are tied up in drink / Our ideal life contains a tavern / Where man may sit and talk of or just think / All without fear of the nighted wyvern, / Or yet another tavern where it appears.

1940-54 The Collected Poetry of Malcolm Lowry, "WE SIT UNHACKLED DRUNK AND MAD TO EDIT", UBC Press,1992, p.222

(heraldry, mythology, fantasy) A draconian creature possessing wings, only two legs and usually a barbed tail.


lis

[…] it may be dimidiated: for instance, half a rose and half a lis being stuck together, or half a lis and half an eagle.

1915, Guy Cadogan Rothery, ABC of Heraldry, page 175:


armiger

/ˈɑːɹmɪd͡ʒɚ/

Borrowed from Latin armiger (“carrying weapons or armour”).

bor

(loosely, heraldry) Any person entitled to bear a coat of arms.


pile

From Middle English pile, from Old English pīl, from Latin pīlum (“heavy javelin”). Cognate with Dutch pijl, German Pfeil. Doublet of pilum.

(heraldry) One of the ordinaries or subordinaries having the form of a wedge, usually placed palewise, with the broadest end uppermost.


avellane

From Italian avellana (“filbert”), from Latin Avella or Abella, a city of Campania.

an avellane cross

(heraldry) In the form of four unhusked filberts.


avellane

avellanes (plural)
avellan (alternative)

Cross double fruitagée, or a mascle with four fruitages, or avellanes, joined to the points thereof in cross. See Pl. 5, fig. 19.

1830, Thomas Robson, The British Herald:


averse

en-adj

averse (comparative more averse, superlative most averse)

more averse (comparative)
most averse (superlative)

From Latin aversus, past participle of avertere (“to avert”).

(heraldry) Aversant; of a hand: turned so as to show the back.


averted

averted (comparative more averted, superlative most averted)

more averted (comparative)
most averted (superlative)

[...] : for Mompelgard, two barbels endorsed with tails averted, in a field gules : for Heydenheim, a Saracen's head, with a kind of hussar's cap gules[…]

1765, Daniel Fenning, Joseph Collyer, A New System of Geography, Or a General Description of the World, page 265:

(also heraldry) Turned or directed away (from something).


fur

en-noun

fur (countable and uncountable, plural furs)

From Middle English furre, forre, from Anglo-Norman forre, fuerre (“a case; sheath”), from Frankish *fōdar, from Proto-West Germanic *fōdr, from Proto-Germanic *fōdrą (“sheath”) (compare Old English fōdor (“sheaf”), Dutch voering (“lining”), German Futter (“lining”), Gothic 𐍆𐍉𐌳𐍂 (fōdr, “sheath”)), from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-, *poh₂- (“to protect”) (compare Lithuanian piemuō (“protection”), Ancient Greek πῶυ (pôu, “flock”), πῶμα (pôma, “lid”), ποιμήν (poimḗn, “shepherd”), Old Armenian հաւրան (hawran, “herd, flock”), Northern Kurdish pawan (“to watch over”), Sanskrit पाति (pāti, “he watches, protects”).
The verb is from Middle English furren, from Anglo-Norman furrer, forrer, fourrer (“to line, stuff, fill”), from the noun.

مِعْطَف

hairy skin processed to serve as clothing

(heraldry, countable) One of several patterns or diapers used as tinctures, such as ermine and vair.


foil

en-noun

foil (countable and uncountable, plural foils)

From Middle English foyle, from Middle French fueille, from Old French fueille (“plant leaf”), from Late Latin folia, the plural of folium, mistaken as a singular feminine.
The literary sense is from the practice of backing a gem with metal foil to make it shine more brilliantly.
Doublet of folio and folium, distantly also with phyllo and phyllon.


dolphin

From Middle English delphyn, from Latin delphīnus, from Ancient Greek δελφίς (delphís), from δελφύς (delphús, “womb”); the modern form in -ol- is probably influenced by the pronunciation of Middle French dauphin. Compare Swedish delfin. Doublet of dauphin. Displaced native Old English mereswīn (literally “sea pig”).

ncog

(heraldry) A depiction of a fish, with a broad indented fin, usually embowed.


garb

From French gerbe; akin to German Garbe. Doublet of gerbe.


tierce

From Old French tierce, from Latin tertia.

(heraldry) An ordinary that covers the left or right third of the field of a shield or flag.


riband

en-noun

riband (countable and uncountable, plural ribands)

(heraldry) A narrow diminutive of the bend, thinner than a bendlet.


charge

charge (countable and uncountable, plural charges)

From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

Comeronym: field

Near-synonym: emblem

(heraldry) An image displayed on an escutcheon.

紋章 /纹章

heraldry: image displayed on an escutcheon


charge

en-verb

charge (third-person singular simple present charges, present participle charging, simple past and past participle charged)

charges (present singular third-person)
charging (participle present)
charged (participle past)
charged (past)

desc

→ Cantonese: 叉廚 /叉厨 (caa¹ cyu⁴), 叉 (caa¹)

→ Kashubian: czardżowac (United States)

→ Malay: caj, cas

→ Swahili: chaji

yükləmək

to place a burden upon, to assign a duty

yükləmək

to load equipment with material required for its use

He charges three roses.

(transitive) To place a burden, load or responsibility on or in.

He charges his shield with three roses or.


gusset

From Middle English gusset, gysset, from Old French gosset, gousset (“the hollow of the armpit”).

(heraldry) An ordinary on a coat of arms, resembling a gusset (see usage notes).

gousset

heraldry: an abatement or mark of dishonor in a coat of arms


shield

From Middle English scheld, shelde, from Old English scield (“shield”), from Proto-West Germanic *skeldu, from Proto-Germanic *skelduz (“shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- (“cut, split”). Cognate with West Frisian skyld, Dutch schild (“shield”), German Schild (“shield”), Danish skjold (“shield”), Icelandic skjöldur (“shield”) and Faroese skjøldur (“shield”).
Compare Latin scūtum (“shield”), Irish sciath (“shield”), Latgalian škīda (“shield”), Lithuanian skydas (“shield”), Russian щит (ščit, “shield”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”), *skey- (“to cut, split”).

noncog

Meronyms: field, charge, emblem

The second and third quarters of the shield are indecipherable on the stone but clearer in two other representations of the arms, a painted wooden funeral hatchment for Mary Davie[…]

2012 October 8, Daniel W. Patterson, The True Image: Gravestone Art and the Culture of Scotch Irish Settlers in the Pennsylvania and Carolina Backcountry, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 141:

A shape like that of a shield; usually, an inverted triangle with sides that curve inward to form a pointed bottom, commonly used for police identifications and company logos.

(heraldry) The escutcheon on which are placed the bearings in coats of arms.


target

→ Japanese: ターゲット (tāgetto)

From Middle French targette, targuete, diminutive of targe (“light shield”), from Old French, from Frankish *targa (“buckler”), akin to Old Norse targa (“small round shield”) (whence also Old English targe, targa (“shield”)) from Proto-Germanic *targǭ (“edge”), from Proto-Indo-European *derǵʰ- (“fenced lot”). Akin to Old High German zarga (“side wall, rim”) (German Zarge (“frame”)), Spanish tarjeta (“card”).

cog

The fourth field is also party per pale, and for the dutchy of Genevois, contains chequered Or and azure: The sinister for the dutchy of Montserat, a target, gules. The point Or is a black eagle of the county of Maurienne.

1762, Anton Friedrich Büsching, A New System of Geography: In which is Given, a General Account of the Situation and Limits, the Manners, History, and Constitution, of the Several Kingdoms and States of the Known World, page 12:

(heraldry) A bearing representing a buckler.

A kind of shield:
A bearing representing a buckler.


roundel

From Middle English roundel, rundel, rondel, from Old French rondel (“something round and flat”), a diminutive of rond (“round”). More at round.

der

(heraldry) A circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle.

koek

heraldry: a circular spot; a charge in the form of a small coloured circle


trick

From Middle English trikke, from Old Northern French trique (related to Old French trichier (“to defraud, act dishonestly, conceal, deceive, cheat”); > modern French tricher), itself possibly from Middle High German trechen (“to launch a shot at, play a trick on”), or one of its derivatives (e.g. Middle High German ūftrechen (“to do something to someone, hurt someone”), vertrechen (“to conceal, get over on someone”), zuotrechen (“to obtain falsely or deceitfully, wangle, finagle”), etc.); yet the Old French verb is equally likely to be derived from Vulgar Latin *triccāre, from Late Latin tricāre, from Latin trīcor, trīcārī (“dodge, search for detours; haggle, quibble”).
The term has been connected to Middle Dutch treck, trec (“draw, line, desire, game move, cord, stratagem, ruse, trick”), from Middle Dutch trekken, trēken (“to pull, place, put, move”), from Old Dutch *trekken, *trekan (“to move, drag”), from Proto-Germanic *trakjaną, *trekaną (“to drag, scrape, pull”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreg- (“to drag, scrape”). If they are related, trick would be cognate with Low German trekken, Middle High German trecken, trechen, Danish trække, and Old Frisian trekka, Romanian truc and other Romance languages.
Compare track, treachery, trig, and trigger.

der

Heraldic Collections of various Heralds and others, containing Arms blazoned and in trick, grants of arms, pedigrees, etc.

1892, George Gatfield, Guide to Printed Books and Manuscripts Relating to English and Foreign Heraldry, page 12:

The trick […] might be meant for a lion passant or for one rampant embelif […]

2009, Thomas Daniel Tremlett, Hugh Stanford London, Rolls of Arms, Henry III., page 132:

(heraldry) A representation of arms that is drawn as an outline with labels to indicate colors.


trick

en-verb

trick (third-person singular simple present tricks, present participle tricking, simple past and past participle tricked)

tricks (present singular third-person)
tricking (participle present)
tricked (participle past)
tricked (past)

The rugged Pyrrhus, he whose sable arms, / Black as his purpose, did the night resemble / When he lay couched in the ominous horse, / Hath now this dread and black complexion smear'd / With heraldry more dismal; head to foot / Now is he total gules; horridly trick'd / With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons […]

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

They forget that they are in the statutes: […] there they are trick'd, they and their pedigrees.

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I:

(heraldry) To draw (as contrasted with to blazon, which is to describe in words).


naissant

From French naissant (“being born”). Doublet of nascent.

(heraldry) Having only its forepart shown, especially if because it is issuing from an ordinary or division of the field. (Compare issuant.)


fusil

From Middle English fusill, from Old French fusel, fuisel, from a late Latin diminutive of Latin fūsus (“spindle”).

(heraldry) A bearing of a rhomboidal figure, originally representing a spindle in shape, longer than a heraldic lozenge.


salient

en-adj

salient (comparative more salient, superlative most salient)

more salient (comparative)
most salient (superlative)

The heraldic sense “leaping” and the sense “projecting outward” are borrowed from Latin salientem, the accusative form of saliēns (“springing, leaping”), present participle of saliō (“leap, spring”, verb). The senses “prominent” and “pertinent” are relatively recent, and derive from the phrase salient point, which is a calque of the Latin punctum saliēns, a translation of Aristotle's term for the embryonal heart visible in (opened) eggs, which he thought seemed to move already. Compare also the German calque der springende Punkt.

a lion salient

(heraldry, usually of a quadruped) Depicted in a leaping posture.


dance

Related to dancy, dancetté, French danché.

Received Pronunciation, Cockney, Estuary, Jamaica

The fact appears to have been that Simon de Montacute bore two coats; the one, Argent, three fusils, which it is most probable was a corruption of a fess dancette, or a dance, Gules; and the other, Azure, a griffin segreant[…]

1828, Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Walter (of Exeter), The Siege of Carlaverock in the XXVIII Edward I. A. D. MCCC, page 243:

It is as follows - being headed by a shield of arms in colours - gold with a dance gules between three croslets fitchy gules.

1902, The Ancestor: A Quarterly Review of County and Family History, Heraldry and Antiquities ..., page 85:

Or, a dance gules, in chief 3 lions' faces sable.

1922, Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica, page 189:

(heraldry) A normally horizontal stripe called a fess that has been modified to zig-zag across the center of a coat of arms from dexter to sinister.


helmet

→ Korean: 헬멧 (helmet)

→ Palauan: hermet

→ Punjabi:

Gurmukhi script: ਹੈਲਮਟ (hailmaṭ)

Shahmukhi script: ہیلمٹ (hailmaṭ)

→ Swahili: helmeti

→ Welsh: helmed

From Middle English helmet, helmett, a borrowing from Old French helmet, heaumet, a diminutive of helme (Modern French heaume), equivalent to helm + -et. The Old French is itself of Germanic origin (whence Old English helm). Used in English since the 15th century, it has largely displaced helm as the general word.

(clothing) A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.

(heraldry) Such a helm when placed above a shield on a coat of arms.


rampant

rampant (comparative more rampant, superlative most rampant)

more rampant (comparative)
most rampant (superlative)
rampaunt (alternative)

From Middle English rampand, rampend, present participle of rampen (“to rise by climbing, shoot up, sprout, sty, ascend”), from Old French ramper (“to creep, climb”) (see below), equivalent to ramp + -and or ramp + -ant. Recorded since 1382, "standing on the hind legs" (as in heraldry), later, "fierce, ravenous" (1387). Compare Scots rampand (“rampant”).
Alternatively from Middle English *rampant, from Old French rampant, the present participle of ramper (“to creep, climb”), equivalent to ramp + -ant. Old French ramper derives from Frankish *rampōn, *hrampōn (“to hook, grapple, climb”), from *rampa, *hrampa (“hook, claw, talon”), from Proto-Germanic *hrempaną (“to curve, shrivel, shrink, wrinkle”).

der

‘I forget your coat of arms.’
‘A human foot d’or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel.’

1846, Edgar Allan Poe, The Cask of Amontillado:

little pieces of moustache on his upper lip, like a pair of minnows rampant

(heraldry) Rearing up, especially on its hind leg(s), with a foreleg raised and in profile.


armed

From arm (“the upper limb of the body”) + -ed.

suffix

(heraldry, of animals) Having horns, claws, teeth, a beak, etc. in a particular tincture, as contrasted with that of the animal as a whole.


gorge

From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”). Doublet of gour.

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-gorge.wav

The heraldic name for whirlpools is gorges, and a mediaeval family called Gorges bore a whirlpool as its arms.

1966, Charles Mackinnon of Dunakin, chapter 5, in The Observer's Book of Heraldry, London: Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd., page 77:

(heraldry, usually in the plural) A whirlpool used as a heraldic charge.


coward

en-adj

coward (comparative more coward, superlative most coward)

more coward (comparative)
most coward (superlative)

From Middle English coward, from Old French coart, cuard ( > French couard), from coue (“tail”), coe + -ard (pejorative agent noun suffix); coue, coe is in turn from Latin cauda.
The reference seems to be to an animal "turning tail", or having its tail between its legs, especially a dog. Compare the expression tail between one's legs. Unrelated to English cower. Displaced native Old English earg (surviving in northern dialect English argh).

(heraldry, of a lion) Borne in the escutcheon with his tail doubled between his legs.


baton

Alternative forms: batune, baston

Coordinate term: scrape

(heraldry) A bend with the ends cut off, resembling a baton, typically borne sinister, and often used as a mark of cadency, initially for both legitimate and illegitimate children, but later chiefly for illegitimate children.

Bastardfaden

especially when marking illegitimacy; sometimes extending across the shield (without the ends cut off)


couped

(heraldry) Cut off smoothly, as distinguished from erased (used especially for the head or limb of an animal).


crux

→ French: crux

From Latin crux (“cross, wooden frame for execution”), possibly from the Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, to bend”). Doublet of cross and crouch (“cross”).


impale

en-verb

impale (third-person singular simple present impales, present participle impaling, simple past and past participle impaled)

impales (present singular third-person)
impaling (participle present)
impaled (participle past)
impaled (past)
empale (alternative)

From Middle French, from Medieval Latin impālāre, from Latin palus, whence also pale.

(transitive, heraldry) To place two coats of arms side by side on the same shield (often those of two spouses upon marriage).


leaved

From Middle English leuued, levyd, equivalent to leaf + -ed.

(chiefly in combination, sometimes heraldry) Having a leaf, leaves or folds.


pall

From Middle English pal, palle, from Old English pæl, pæll, from Old French paile and Latin pallium (“cloak; covering”) (and thus a doublet of pallium), probably from palla (“piece of cloth worn as apparel”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; hide, skin; cloth”)) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

der

The flag of South Africa has a green pall

(heraldry) A charge representing an archbishop's pallium, having the form of the letter Y, sometimes charged with crosses.


banner

From Middle English baner, from Old French baniere (Modern bannière), of Germanic origin. More at band.

(heraldry) The principal standard of a knight.


champ

Borrowed from French champ m (“field”). Doublet of campus and camp.

If a man, he adds, have taken for his arms 'a low of gules in a champ of silver,'¹ […]
¹A flame (pile wavy) gules in a silver field. Thus the arms of the family of Bataille de Mandelot are, Argent three flames, per piles wavy gules, issuant from the base. Woodward, Heraldry, i. 158. Otherwise one might almost suppose that the word 'low' of the MS. was a misprint or a misunderstanding of the scribe for 'cow'; for the instance in one MS. of the original French is that of a man who took 'une vache de geules et trois estoiles par dessus.'

1914, John Horne Stevenson, Heraldry in Scotland, page 30:

(heraldry, obsolete or rare) The field of a shield.


champ

en-verb

champ (third-person singular simple present champs, present participle champing, simple past and past participle champed)

champs (present singular third-person)
champing (participle present)
champed (participle past)
champed (past)
champe (alternative)

Three of red cloth of gold champed with (with a ground of) velvet. One of white cloth of gold champed with blue velvet. One of red champed with blue velvet.

1559 July 7, The Ancient Church of Scotland, published 1874, page 101:

(heraldry) To set (a surface) with a champ (a contrasting field or background). [with with]


crest

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista.
The informal meaning “design, logo” (sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

inh

I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

(heraldry) A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.


fret

From Middle English frēten (“to decorate”), from Old French freté, freter, fretter (“to fret (decorate with an interlacing pattern)”), from Old French fret (from fraindre (“to break”), from Latin frangō (“to break, shatter”), from Proto-Italic *frangō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”)) + Old French -er (suffix forming verbs) (from Latin -āre, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃enh₂- (“to burden, charge”)).

der

DIAPERED, or Diapre, in heraldry, the dividing of a field in planes, like fret-work, and filling the ſame with variety of figures. This chiefly obtains on bordures, which are diapered or fretted over, and the frets charged with things proper for bordures.

1764, Temple Henry Croker, Thomas Williams, Samuel Clark [et al.], “DIAPERED”, in The Complete Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, volume I, London: Printed for the authors, and sold by J. Wilson & J. Fell, Pater-noster Row; [et al.], →OCLC:

(heraldry) A saltire interlaced with a mascle.


galley

en-noun

galley (plural galleys or (obsolete) gallies)

galleys (plural)
gallies (obsolete plural)

From Middle English galeie, from Old French galee, from Latin galea, from Byzantine Greek γάλεα (gálea) of unknown origin, probably from Ancient Greek γαλέη (galéē), a kind of a small fish, from γαλεός (galeós, “dog-fish or small shark”). Doublet of galea.

(heraldry) A representation of a single masted ship propelled by oars, with three flags and a basket.


pearl

pearl (countable and uncountable, plural pearls)

Horace
Jean Jannon
New Testament
Vergil
en:pearl
en:pearl (disambiguation)
en:pearl (typography)

From Middle English perle, from Old French perle of uncertain etymology. Probably via unattested Medieval Latin *pernula, from Latin perna (“haunch; a marine bivalve shaped like a leg of lamb”) but also derived from Medieval Latin perla, from Latin perula (“little bag”). Its typographic use follows the name given by Jean Jannon to the type used in his miniature editions of Vergil, Horace, & the New Testament in the 1620s, which were the smallest printed works to his time. Its surfing use derives from the supposed resemblance to pearl diving.

der

Errol. Pearl three Escutcheons Ruby. / Elgin. Topaz a Saltier and Chief Ruby, on a Canton Pearl a Lyon Rampant Saphyr, which last is their paternal Coat; and the Field Topaz, and Saltier, and Chief Ruby, was the Arms of King Robert the Bruce, they altering the Field from Pearl (as he bore it) to Topaz.

1720, Francis Nichols, Rudiments of Honour, page 296:

The Field is Ruby, on a Bend Topaz, three Martlets Diamond. The Armes of the most Noble and Puissant Lord, Edward Brabazon, Earl of Meath, and Baron of Atherdee in the Kingdom of Ireland. His Lordship's Atchievements are Quarterly of sixteen Coats. 1. Brabazon, as above. 2. Diamond, on a Chevron between three Pickaxes Pearl, as many Mullets Ruby, by the Name of Mosley. 3. Saphire, ten Bezants, 4, 3, 2, 1, by the Bisset. 4. Pearl, on a Bend Diamond, nine Annulets conjoined in three Links Topaz.

1726, John Guillim, The Banner Display'd; Or, an Abridgment of Guillim, page 504:

(1) Pearl, a Cross, Ruby, with the Effigies of our Saviour thereon, Topaz, born in Memory of one of the Family's fighting against the Turks.

1754, John Lodge, The Peerage of Ireland; Or, a Genealogical History of the ..., page 71:

(heraldry) Argent, in blazoning by precious stones.


sanguine

en-noun

sanguine (countable and uncountable, plural sanguines)

From Middle English sanguine, from Old French sanguin, ultimately from Latin sanguineus (“of blood”), from sanguis (“blood”), of uncertain origin, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *h₁sh₂-én-, from *h₁ésh₂r̥ (“blood”). Doublet of sanguineous.

(heraldry) A tincture, seldom used, of a blood-red colour (not to be confused with murrey).


wavy

en-adj

wavy (comparative wavier, superlative waviest)

wavier (comparative)
waviest (superlative)
wavey (alternative)

Per pale erm. and az. a fess wavy gu.

1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland: Forming an Extensive Ordinary of British Armorials; Upon an Entirely New Plan ..., page 708:

Parted per fess wavy gu. and arg.; over all a lion passant sa. pierced with a dagger ppr., hafted and pommelled of the second, the haft appearing between the shoulders and the point under the belly, tending towards the hind legs[…]

1893, James Balfour Paul, An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, page 105:

(heraldry) Undé, in a wavy line; applied to ordinaries, or division lines, especially to symbolize a river.


wreath

From Middle English wreth, wrethe (“coiled or rounded shape; decorative garland, wreath; chaplet, crown; ring”, noun), from Old English wrǣd, wrǣð, wriþa (“bandage”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to twist; to weave”), from Proto-Indo-European *wreyt- (“to twist”). Doublet of wreathe and writhe.

inh

w:Webster's Dictionary#Webster's New International Dictionary 1909

(heraldry) An appendage to the shield, placed above it, and supporting the crest; an orle, a torse. It generally represents a twist of two cords of silk, one tinctured like the principal metal, the other like the principal color in the coat of arms.


argent

en-noun

argent (countable and uncountable, plural argents)

argents (plural)
arg. (alternative)
a. (alternative)

From Middle English argent, from Old French argent m (“silver”), from Latin argentum n (“white money, silver”).

der

argent:

The metals are gold and silver, these being termed "or" and "argent".

1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry:

(heraldry) The white or silver tincture on a coat of arms.


argent

... when the shield is argent, it is shown in an engraving by being left plain.

1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:

(heraldry): of white or silver tincture on a coat of arms.


honor

en-noun

honor (countable and uncountable, plural honors)

From Middle English honour, honor, honur, from Anglo-Norman honour, honur, from Old French honor, from Latin honor.
Displaced Middle English menske (“honor, dignity among men”), from Old Norse menskr (“honor”).
The verb is from Middle English honouren, honuren (“to honor”).

оньо́р

card games: one of the most valuable cards

a prophet has no honor in his own country

a prophet is not without honor save in his own country

(heraldry, countable) The center point of the upper half of an armorial escutcheon (compare honour point).

lakipiste

heraldry: centre point of the upper half of a coat of arms


addorsed

From Latin ad dorsum (“to the back”). Compare French adossé.

EDGHILL, a falcon, wings addorsed and inverted, supporting with dexter a carved shield, charged with a cinquefoil, […]

2012 February 3, James Fairbairn, Fairbairn’s Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, Andrews UK Limited, →ISBN, page 165:

(heraldry, of animals or wings) Set back to back, facing away from each other.


mullet

From Middle English molet, from Old French molette (“rowel”).

Grogan, Creation of 1859, or Moyvore, Westmeath. [...] Arms,—Barry of sex or and sable, on a chief engrailed azure a lion passant of the first. Crest,—A lion's head erased sable, charged with a mullet or.

1871, Debrett's illustrated baronetage and knightage (and companionage) of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, page 215:

(heraldry) A star with straight edges and usually with five or six points.


nascent

Borrowed from Latin nascēns, nascēntis, present participle of nascor (“I am born”). Doublet of naissant.

[…] charges of blazonry, bends sinister and bends dexter, lions couchant, lions nascent, and[…]

1874, G. Cameron, Charlie Lufton: An Autobiographical Novel, page 130:

Marks of the makers : the initials of the maker and the arms of the town : a lion nascent with three flames.

1931, Louis Carré, A Guide to Old French Plate:

[...] in chief a demi lion nascent gules.

1978, Paul J. Vandevander, The Van Deventer Family, 1550-1977:


mount

From Middle English mount, munt, from Old English munt, from Latin mōns (“a hill, mountain”), from a root seen also in ēmineō (“I project, I protrude”) (English eminent). Doublet of mons.

(heraldry) A green hillock in the base of a shield.


scalp

→ Danish: skalp

→ Dutch: scalp

→ Esperanto: skalpo

→ German: Skalp

→ Hungarian: skalp

→ Italian: scalpo

→ Latvian: skalps

→ Macedonian: скалп (skalp)

→ Portuguese: escalpo

→ Russian: скальп (skalʹp)

→ Serbo-Croatian: ска̏лп (skȁlp)

→ Swedish: skalp

From Middle English scalp, skalp, scalpe (“crown of the head; skull”). Originally a northern word, and therefore probably from a North Germanic source, although the sense-development is unclear; compare Sylt North Frisian Skolp (“dandruff”), Old Norse skálpr (“sheath”), Old Swedish skalp, Dutch schelp (“shell”).

He bears for Arms : Argent, on a chevron invected gules, between two bugle-horns sable, stringed of the second in chief, and the attires of a stag affixed to the scalp in base of the third, two fasces chevronways or.

1899, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, Showing which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 313:

The part of the head where the hair grows from, or used to grow from.

(heraldry) The skin of the head of a stag, to which the horns are attached.


helm

From Middle English helm (“helmet; crown of thorns of Jesus; warrior; inn or shop sign”) [and other forms], from Old English helm (“helmet”), from Proto-West Germanic *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (“protective covering”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelmos, from the root *ḱel- (“to cover”). Doublet of heaume and related to helmet.
Cognates
* Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 (hilms)
* Old Frisian helm (West Frisian helm)
* Old High German helm (Middle High German helm, modern German Helm; Italian elmo; Old French helme, modern French heaume; Spanish yelmo)
* Old Norse hjalmr (Danish hjelm, Norwegian hjelm, Swedish hjelm)
* Old Saxon helm (Low German Helm, Middle Dutch helm, modern Dutch helm)

inh

(heraldry) Synonym of helmet (“the feature above a shield on a coat of arms”)


attire

en-noun

attire (countable and uncountable, plural attires)

The verb is from Middle English atyren, atiren, from Old French atirier (“to equip”), from a- + tire (“rank”), akin to German Zier (“ornament”) and Old Norse tírr (“glory, renown”).
The noun is from Middle English atir, from the verb.

The latter sign, however, may have some heraldic significance, as Larwood and Hotten mention a London token of 1666 on which a horseshoe is represented within a pair of antlers or deer's attires.

1887, Miller Christy, The Trade Signs of Essex: A Popular Account of the Origin and Meanings of the Public House & Other Signs Now Or Formerly Found in the County of Essex, page 51:

(heraldry) The single horn of a goat, deer or stag.