heraldric

en-adj

heraldric (comparative more heraldric, superlative most heraldric)

more heraldric (comparative)
most heraldric (superlative)

(heraldry) Of, or relating to heraldry; heraldic.


counterflory

From French contrefleuri; equivalent to counter- + flory.

(heraldry) Decorated with fleurs-de-lis or other floral motifs arranged in pairs opposite each other, especially on opposite sides of a border on a shield or banner.


tressure

From Middle English tressour, from a mixture of Old French tressure and tresseor. By surface analysis, tress + -ure.

(heraldry) A narrow border near the edge of a shield or banner.


flory

From French fleuri (“covered with flowers”), past participle of fleurir. See flourish for more.

(heraldry, of a bordure, etc) Decorated with fleurs-de-lis projecting from it.

(heraldry, of a cross) Having the ends of the arms turn into fleurs-de-lis, rather than having fleurs-de-lis attached to the ends as in a cross floretty.


chapé

(heraldry) A division of the field, used in French heraldry, created by drawing two lines from the centre of the upper edge of the shield towards the outer bottom edges (creating a triangle), with the tincture being applied to the two upper portions which the triangle divides.


confronté

From French confronté (“confronted”), past participle of confronter (“to confront”).

(heraldry, of two animals) Face-to-face; facing each other; fornenst.


ermines

Attested in this form (with s) since at least 1562, in Legh's Accedens of Armorie, which defines it ("Sable poudred with Argent, … Ermines is his proper name") and contrasts it with both ermine and erminois. Related to ermine, but the derivation is unclear; the OED suggests "possibly [from] OF. herminès, pl. of herminet" (a supposed diminutive of hermine); modern French calls the fur contre-hermine.
The Fifteenth Century Book of Arms (c. 1460) uses ermyne in a way that sometimes contrasts with ermyn (“ermine”) ("John Garther beryth of ix pecys ermyñ and ermyne"); The Ancestor says the image of that blazon "shows the furs as those usually called at this date erminees (or erminee) and ermine—erminees being ermine with the colour reversed. It is evident that the maker of this roll, whose blazonry is sadly to seek, was uncertain by what name to call the ermine with the black field and white tails. On a later page of this MS. [fo. 59] we find ermine described as ermyñ and its reverse as ermyne)." The Middle English Dictionary defines that use of ermyne as "having the fur ermines, consisting of black with white spots (instead of black on white)", although they derive it from, and it appears to be, erminé ("ermined") instead, hence the Fifteenth Century Book also records a bend "sabyll ermyne" and a lion sable with "ermyne appon the sabyll".

He beareth Or, a Cheuron Checkey Ermin & Ermines.

1572, John Bossewell, Workes of Armorie, II, 129:

(heraldry): In blazon, coloured with a heraldic fur of a black field with white spots; counter-ermine.

kontrahermelin

of black colour with white spots on a coat of arms


surmounted

Argent, a fess vert, surmounted by a saltier gules, by the name of Parveis.

1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 75:

(heraldry) Overlaid; denoting a figure when another is laid over it.


seeded

A rose in heraldry is a five-petalled one, and the five leaves and the seeds are often of different tinctures, e.g. A rose Gules barbed and seeded proper. When barbed and seeded proper the barbs or leaves are green and the seeds yellow. Otherwise the barbs and seeds must have their tincture stated.

1968, Charles MacKinnon of Dunakin, The Observer's Book of Heraldry, pages 72–73:

(heraldry, of a rose) Having the stamens / seeds indicated.


dovetailed

(heraldry) Involving a wavy line in the form of triangles, resembling a dovetail.


orle

From Old French (also modern) orle, from orler (“to hem”), or from Vulgar Latin *orula, a diminutive of Latin ora (“edge”), probably from os, oris (“mouth”).

1819, In his hand he bore that singular “abacus”, or staff of office, with which Templars are usually represented, having at the upper end a round plate, on which was engraved the cross of the Order, inscribed within a circle or orle, as heralds term it. — Walter Scott, Ivanhoe

(heraldry) A bordure that runs around the outline of a shield without touching the edge.

(heraldry) The wreath, or chaplet, surmounting or encircling the helmet of a knight and bearing the crest; a torse.


bezant

From Middle English besaunt, from Old French bezant, nominative bezanz, from Latin byzantius (“of Byzantium”).

One and All is the motto of the County of Cornwall, used below the coat-of-arms, which is a shield embracing fifteen bezants, or golden roundels, on a black ground; [...].

1941 December, “The Why and the Wherefore: Cornish names of G.W.R. locomotives”, in Railway Magazine, page 575:

(heraldry) A roundel or (that is, a golden circle), the heraldic representation of a gold coin.


defacement

en-noun

defacement (countable and uncountable, plural defacements)

(heraldry, vexillology) A symbol added to a flag or coat of arms to change it or make it different from another.


fleur-de-lys

(heraldry) Alternative form of fleur-de-lis


assumptive

en-adj

assumptive (comparative more assumptive, superlative most assumptive)

more assumptive (comparative)
most assumptive (superlative)

(heraldry, of arms, not comparable) Originally, being arms which a person had a right to assume, in consequence of an exploit; now, those assumed without sanction of the Heralds' College.


eradicated

(heraldry) Having the roots of a tree visible in the emblazon.


quartering

(heraldry) The division of a shield containing different coats of arms into four or more compartments.

(heraldry) One of the different coats of arms arranged upon an escutcheon, denoting the descent of the bearer.


entrail

en-verb

entrail (third-person singular simple present entrails, present participle entrailing, simple past and past participle entrailed)

entrails (present singular third-person)
entrailing (participle present)
entrailed (participle past)
entrailed (past)

A cross entrailed.

"Entrailed: outlined, always with black lines. See Adumbration, and Cross entrailed."

1847, Henry Gough, John Henry Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table ..., Oxford, page 124:

"Entrailed, a Cross, P.7, n.20, Lee says, the colour need not be named, for it is always sable."

1775, Hugh Clark, Thomas Wormull, An Introduction to Heraldry: Containing the Origin and Use of Arms; Rules ..., H. Washbourne, page 122:


gurges

/ˈɡɜːd͡ʒiːz/

From Middle English gurges, from Latin gurges.

Argent, a gurges azure, is borne by GORGES, of Langford, Wilts., created a Baronet 1612. As the gurges (like the fountain) represents water, argent and azure are its proper tinctures.

1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 153:

A shield of arms of early shape : three gurgeses (or roundles charged with a central pellet and two annulets concentric), two and one.

1894, British Museum. Department of Manuscripts, Walter de Gray Birch, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, page 294:

(heraldry) A series of typically four to six concentric annulets (in early heraldry, from at least the 1200s), or a spiralling line from the centre to the edge of the shield (in late heraldry); a stylized whirlpool.


gated

Quarterly: 1st and 4th, azure, a castle argent, gated and windowed gules; 2nd, gules three legs armed proper, flexed and conjoined triangularly at the upper end of the thigh, garnished and spurred or; 3rd, azure, a deer's head cabossed[…]

1956, Thomas Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry: A Practical Handbook on the Historical Principles and Modern Application of the Art and Science, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 203:

(heraldry) Having a gate of a specified colour.


gutty

From goutte + -y, or anglicization of (Old or Middle French) goutté, ultimately from Latin gutta (“drop (of a liquid)”) (also the ultimate source of English goutte and French goutte). Compare guttated.

(heraldry) Charged or sprinkled with drops.


passant

From Middle English passaunt (c. 1300), from Old French passant.

He them espying, gan himselfe prepare, / And on his arme addresse his goodly shield / That bore a Lion passant in a golden field.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(heraldry, of a four-legged animal) Walking, usually to the right, and looking straight ahead with the right forepaw raised from the ground.


dexter chief

(heraldry) The upper left corner of the shield (from the viewer's perspective).


erased

Az., on a fesse, embattled, counterembattled, arg., between three cocks' heads, erased, of the last, beaked, combed, and wattled, gu., two roses, also gu.

1860, Bernard Burke, A Selection of Arms Authorized by the Laws of Heraldry, page 34:

(heraldry) Having the appearance of being forcibly torn off, with parts left jagged or uneven, as distinguished from couped.


gyron

(heraldry) A triangular form having an angle at the fess point and the opposite side at the edge of the escutcheon.


pean

Derived from Middle French penne (“feather”), from penna (“feather”); doublet of pen and penna.

der+

(heraldry) A heraldic fur of gold spots on a black field.


pean

(heraldry) In blazon, a heraldic fur of a black field with gold spots.

kontraguldhermelin

of black colour with gold spots on a coat of arms


cherry blossom

en-noun

cherry blossom (countable and uncountable, plural cherry blossoms)

The cherry blossom was in use in Heian times...For obvious reasons it become the mon of the Sakurai family.

1976, W. M. Hawley, Kei Kaneda Chappelear, Mon: The Japanese Family Crest, page 27:

(heraldry) A stylized depiction of the blossom of the cherry tree, as used in Japanese mon.


murrey

murrey (countable and uncountable, plural murreys)

From Middle English murrey, murreye, from Middle French moré, morée, from Latin moratum, morata, from neuter and feminine respectively of moratus (“mulberry-colored”), from morum (“mulberry”) + -atus (“-ate”).

murrey:

(heraldry) A tincture, the colour of mulberries, between gules (red) and purpure (purple).


pursuivant

From Middle English pursevant et al., from Old French pursuivant, present participle of pursuivre (“to follow”). Doublet of pursuant.

How oft do they [the blessed Angels] with golden pineons, cleaue / The flitting skyes, like flying Purſuiuant, / Againſt fowle feendes to ayd vs millitant: […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 291:

The herald Hope, forerunning Fear, / And Fear, the pursuivant of Hope.

1845, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, To A Child:

(heraldry) A functionary of lower rank than a herald, but discharging similar duties; called also pursuivant at arms; an attendant of the heralds, e.g. in the College of Arms.


irradiated

en-adj

irradiated (comparative more irradiated, superlative most irradiated)

more irradiated (comparative)
most irradiated (superlative)

Per Fess, Or, and Argent, a Rose irradiated Gules, therefrom issuant two Griphons' heads addorsed Sable. William Barlow.

1829, Stephen Hyde Cassan, Lives of the bishops of Bath and Wells, page 65:

A Lion of England imperially crowned, between three roses gules in chief, and as many argent in base, barbed, seeded, and irradiated or […]

1893, John Edwin Cussans, Handbook of Heraldry, page 277:

[...] a naked child seized by a bear passant sable semee d'estoiles or, on a chief argent three roses gules irradiated.

1897, William Kirkpatrick Riland Bedford, The Blazon of Episcopacy … of England and Wales, page 187:

Azure, on a cross quarterly pierced or, four chevrons gules, with an honourable augmentation, a chief argent, thereon a rose gules, irradiated gold, within a wreath of oak proper.

1899, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families, page 878:

Quarterly : 1st and 4th, Sable, a fesse wavy between two estoiles irradiated argent, Drake; 2nd, Gules, on a bend or, a baton azure, on a chief the arms of[…]

1902, Joseph Jackson Howard, Visitation of England and Wales, page 1:

[...] in her dexter hand a pair of scales or, and in her sinister a touchstone sable, her head irradiated.

1915, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Book of Public Arms, London : T.C. & E.C. Jack, page 326:

Crest — Rising from the top of a lighthouse argent irradiated or a martlet azure.

2020 April 20, Susan Morris, Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019, eBook Partnership, →ISBN, page 2780:


marshalling

en-noun

marshalling (countable and uncountable, plural marshallings)

(heraldry) The arrangement of an escutcheon to exhibit the alliances of the owner.


couched

Holmes gives us the Arms of the Name of TOURNEY, Or, a Cheveron couched Gules, Fig. 15. IF it be turned to the other Side, says he, it is termed couched sinister;[…]

1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 160:

Argent, on a fesse sable, three chevronels couched sinister of the field. - TRENOWITH, Corn.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 111:

(heraldry) Of a chevron, issuing from the side rather than from the bottom or top of the shield; couché.


affronted

en-adj

affronted (comparative more affronted, superlative most affronted)

more affronted (comparative)
most affronted (superlative)

PROVENANCE The arms on f.25 are argent a lion rampant affronted azure, with claws and tongue gules; these are perhaps the arms of Acciajaoli, of Florence (cf. the sale in these rooms, 7 December 1992, lot 74), or Nini, of Siena[…]

1994 06, Sotheby's (Firm), Western Manuscripts and Miniatures:


quatrefoil

/kætɹəˌfɔɪl/

From Old French quatrefoil, from quatre (“four”) + foil (“leaf”).

(heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf with four lobes.


platy

platy (comparative platier, superlative platiest)

platier (comparative)
platiest (superlative)

Alternative form: platé

Gules, a saltire argent within a bordure sable bezantée (sic C., but Papworth cites, p. 1069, from A., per saltire gules and sable, a saltire argent, and a bordure of the 2nd platy).

1877, The Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist, page 19:

[...] fretty gules besanty / here the besants are placed at the intersection of the pieces of the fretty. A similar coat, Or, fretty gules platy, is an old coat of VERDON; and Or, fretty sable platy is the canting coat of PLATT.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 97:

Or, a fess dancetty of two points gules masoned argent; on a chief azure a representation of Maidenhead Bridge over water barry wavy in base. 212. Argent, a fess gules between 3 astral crowns azure. 213. Sable platy, a pile barry[…]

1965, R. H. Wilmott, Discovering Heraldry:

Sable platy, two flaunches argent - Spelman (159). Gules, five lozenges conjoined in bend argent - Raleigh (160).

1983, Charles Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, Frederick Warne Publishers:

(heraldry) Semy of plates (roundels argent).


segreant

First attested in the 1550s, initially in the spelling sergreant, of obscure origin and variable meaning: examples from the 15- and 1600s apply it not only to winged quadrupeds but also a falcon, and not exclusively to ones rampant but also some passant. The source may be French s’érigeant (“erecting itself”).

(heraldry) Rampant, with the wings elevated and addorsed (a posture of winged quadrupeds).


recrossed

M'Glashan, Sco. a long cross recrossed, gules,[…]

1817, Alexander Deuchar, British Crests: Containing the Crests and Mottos of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland, page 189:

gules, a bend argent acc. by six crosses recrossed argent

1900, John William De Forest, The DeForests of Avesnes and of New Netherland: A Huguenot Thread in American Colonial History, 1494 to the Present Time, page 245:

The arms of Poix, assumed by Sir Walter Tyrrell III., at the siege of Jerusalem, were as follows: Gules, with bend argent, together with six crosses, recrossed with small crosslets and pointed in gold, posed three and three.

1909, Edwin Holland Terrell, Further Genealogical Notes on the Tyrrell-Terrell Family of Virginia and Its English and Norman-French Progenitors, page 21:

(heraldry) Having the ends crossed, like (or as) a cross crosslet.


pendent

pendent (comparative more pendent, superlative most pendent)

more pendent (comparative)
most pendent (superlative)

From Middle English pendaunt, Anglo-Norman pendaunt, pendant, respelled to reflect Latin pendēns, pendentis, present participle of pendere (“to hang, to be suspended”). Compare pendant, which retained the spelling.

Jandrell, Sa. three buckles, the tongues pendent ar. two and a one.

1780, Joseph Edmondson, A Complete Body of Heraldry:

Az. a chev. or, betw. three acorns, pendent, Kymberlee.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry: Dictionary of Heraldry, page 89:

JAUDRILL. Ermines, three round buckles ar. tongues pendent.

1844, John Burke, Bernard Burke, Encyclopædia of Heraldry, page 49:

page 207: de CAMPO REAL: chequy Sable and Argent on a chief Gules a crescent pendent of the field.

1981, Bruno Bernhard Heim, Armorial Bruno Bernard Heim, Colin Smythe:

(heraldry) Hanging or pointed downward; (of a crescent) with its horns pointing downward.


martlet

From Middle English martilet, probably a blend of martinet (“martin”; from Middle French martinet and Medieval Latin martineta) and Middle French merlet.

merlette

mythological bird in French heraldry depicted with no beak or feet

(heraldry) A depiction of a bird similar to a house martin or swallow with stylized feet.


bordure

[ˈbo̞ɹ.d͡ʒɚ]

-ɔː(ɹ)dʒə(ɹ)

A collateral form of, and thus a doublet of border (from Middle English bordure).

(heraldry) A contrasting border around a shield.


portate

Latin portatus, past participle of portare (“to carry”).

a cross portate

Saint Anthony's cross
Saint Anthony's cross

(heraldry, of a cross) Borne diagonally athwart an escutcheon with the central column going from dexter chief to sinister base (a cross tilted the opposite way is portate reversed), especially as a T-shaped or Saint Anthony's cross.


gorged

(heraldry) With the neck collared or encircled by an object.


nebule

Barry nebule of ſix Pieces, Argent and Gules; pertained to Sir Richard Damery, a Baron in the Days of King Ed. 3.

1755, John Guillim, The British Banner Display'd, page 234:

His arms are broken off, but may be conjectured to be a crosse nebule.·

1791, Sir Egerton Brydges, The Topographer:

Barry nebule of six, or and sable, is borne by the ancient and noble family of Blount; Barry nebule of six, or and gules, by the name of Lovell; Barry nebule of six, azure and argent, by the name of Dolesby; Barry nebule of ten, argent and azure, by the name of Straiton. Paley nebule, chevronny nebule, and bendy nebule sometimes occur, but they are mostly in foreign shields of arms, and are but seldom seen.

1846, William Newton, A Display of Heraldry, page 65:

(heraldry) Alternative form of nebulé, nebuly


fruited

fruited (comparative more fruited, superlative most fruited)

more fruited (comparative)
most fruited (superlative)

[…] the first gules, a chevron or, between three heads erased; the second vert, an oak tree, fruited or[…]

1813, John Lyon, The History of the Town and Port of Dover and of Dover Castle: With a Short Account of the Cinque Ports, page 138:

[…]; Or, an olive tree eradicated proper, by the name of Montolivet; Or, on a mound a pear tree fruited proper, by the name of Pyrton; Sable, an apple tree or, fruited gules, by the name of Verse, in Flanders.

1846, William Newton, Display of Heraldry, page 139:

A white horse holding in his mouth a sprig of oak. 2. The same galloping before an oak-tree fruited or (Fig. 178).

1870, Mrs. Bury Palliser, Historic Devices, Badges, and War-cries, page 270:

Azure , on a mount an apple tree fruited proper, are the armes parlantes of the Dutch APPELBOOMS, and of the Barons APFALTRER.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 317:

Gold a pear tree fruited gules

1910, Archaeologia Aeliana, Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquities, page 163:

(heraldry) Bearing fruit or acorns, typically of a specified tincture.


sufflue

(heraldry) A clarion-like charge on a coat of arms.


comble

(heraldry) A band along the top part of the shield, half the height of the chief.


dented

A lion rampant sable, langued and dented gules.

(heraldry) Having teeth of a specified colour.

Ermyne on a chiefe dented, Gules.

1572 November 30, John Bossewell, Workes of Armorie:

London, 116. John Farmary M. D. Dec. 1611. Ar. 5 roundels V. in saltier; a chief dented G.

1808, Sir Egerton Brydges, Censura Literaria: Containing Titles, Abstracts, and Opinions of Old English Books, with Original Disquisitions, Articles of Biography, and Other Literary Antiquities, page 257:

(especially heraldry, obsolete) Indented.


syke

(heraldry) A roundel barry wavy argent and azure; a fountain.


adumbrated

adumbrated (comparative more adumbrated, superlative most adumbrated)

more adumbrated (comparative)
most adumbrated (superlative)

(heraldry) Depicted on a shield as an outline (having the same colour(s) as the field, but often darker) instead of a solid figure. (See "further reading" below.)


scrog

en-noun

scrog (countable and uncountable, plural scrogs)

Compare scrag, or Scottish Gaelic sgrogag (“anything shriveled”), from sgrag (“to compress, shrivel”).

cog

Argent, a Palm-tree growing out of a Mount in base proper, surmounted of S. Andrews-cross Gules, on a chiet azur [...]. Azur, a Cheveron Or, betwixt two Scrogs or starved branches in chief, and a mans heart in base argent.

1680, George Mackenzie, Observations Upon the Laws and Customs of Nations, as to Precedency, page 59:

(heraldry, countable) The branch of a tree, especially one used as a charge in Scottish heraldry.


inescutcheon

/ɪnɪˈskʌt͡ʃn̩/

PIE word
 *h₁én
From in- (prefix meaning ‘in; within’) + escutcheon.

prefix

All the quartered Arms that I meet vvith belonging to Scottiſh Families, do not exceed ſix different Coats of Arms, vvhich are marſhalled after theſe three vvays, Plain Quartering, Quartering, and Counter-quartering, of vvhich I have treated and illuſtrate by Examples, vvith their Surtouts and Ineſcutcheons.

1718, Alexander Nisbet, “Of Arms of Alliances, with the Method of Marshalling Them and Others Quarterly”, in An Essay on the Ancient and Modern Use of Armories; […], Edinburgh: […] William Adams Junior, for Mr. James Mack Euen, […], →OCLC, page 112:

[A]n Ineſcutcheon is properly the Charge of a Shield, and born vvithin a 'Scutcheon or Shield, […]

1724, John Guillim, chapter VII, in A Display of Heraldry. […], 6th edition, London: […] T. W. for R. and J. Bonwicke and R. Wilkin, […] [a]nd J. Walthoe and Tho[mas] Ward, […], →OCLC, page 49, column 1:

When only one escutcheon is borne as a charge, it is now generally termed an in'''escutcheon, but in the early rolls there is no such distinction.

1852, J[ames] R[obinson] Planché, “Artificial Objects”, in The Pursuivant of Arms, or Heraldry Founded upon Facts, London: W. N. Wright, […], →OCLC, page 124:

When he became titular bishop of Hippo and auxiliary bishop of Boston, he added an inescutcheon or small shield in the center of his shield bearing a gold heart inflamed pierced by an arrow and on a blue field. Since titular bishops do not impale their personal arms with those of the see, this was a convenient reference to his titular see.

1992, Duane L. C. M. Galles, “The Reform of Ecclesiastical Heraldry Revisited”, in The American Benedictine Review, volume 43, number 4, Atchison, Kan.: American Benedictine Review, →ISSN, →OCLC, footnote 15, page 424:

escutcheon of pretence
escutcheon of pretence

(heraldry) A small escutcheon (“coat of arms; shield”) (such as an escutcheon of pretence) which is charged (“represented”) on a larger escutcheon.


hatchment

From Middle French hachement, a modification of Old French acesmement (“adornment”) (related to Italian accismare); not, as is often claimed, an alteration of achievement.

No Trophee, Sword, nor Hatchment o're his bones.

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 IV, scene v], page 275, column 1:

Having passed through Gaunt Square into Great Gaunt Street, the carriage at length stopped at a tall gloomy house between two other tall gloomy houses, each with a hatchment over the middle drawing-room window; as is the custom of houses in Great Gaunt Street, in which gloomy locality death seems to reign perpetual.

1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 7, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

Immediately the Railway Executive received the news, the former London & North Eastern Railway special rolling stock was prepared, including the saloon always used as a hearse coach, which was painted black and decorated each side with hatchments of the Royal Arms.

1953 June, “Royal Railway Journeys”, in Railway Magazine, page 372:

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:

(heraldry) A display of the arms, supporters, crests, motto, etc of a deceased person, placed within a black lozenge and hung on a wall


battled

Fesse battled, embattled, or, as it were, double embattled, with one battlement upon another.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 9:


defamed

a lion defamed

(heraldry, postpositive) Shown rampant without its tail.


aspersed

en-adj

aspersed (comparative more aspersed, superlative most aspersed)

more aspersed (comparative)
most aspersed (superlative)

Coat of arms in the left-hand bottom corner, a lion or rampant in a field gules, aspersed with billets or. Purchased in Flanders from the subject's descendant, who would not part with the picture until he had cut out the coat[…]

1891, William Stirling Maxwell, Annals of the Artists of Spain:

The arms of the Counts-Dukes of Benavente have a shield quarterly, or a three bands gules and sinople a five escallops argent aspersed, and bordure compony with the arms of Castile and León.

2012 October 3, Eduardo de J. Douglas, In the Palace of Nezahualcoyotl: Painting Manuscripts, Writing the Pre-Hispanic Past in Early Colonial Period Tetzcoco, Mexico, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 194:

(heraldry) Having a number of small charges scattered over the surface; semé.


mantling

en-noun

mantling (countable and uncountable, plural mantlings)

(heraldry) The representation of a mantle, or the drapery behind and around a coat of arms.

llambrequí

heraldry: drapery behind and around a coat of arms


purfling

(heraldry) An ornament consisting of purfle.


eclipsed

Or, on a pile azure, between two lions rampant combatant in base gules, the sun in splendour proper - PEARSON, Co. Lincoln. [...] Argent, a sun eclipsed issuing out of the dexter chief, the beams or - WELDAY, Wheelhurst.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 558:

(heraldry, of a sun) With its disc sable (or, modernly, of another specified tincture).


impalement

impalement (countable and uncountable, plural impalements)

From Middle French empalement; equivalent to impale + -ment.

(heraldry) The joining of two coats of arms on one shield.


varvel

From Old French vervelle (“falcon's leg fetter”), from Vulgar Latin derivation of Latin vertibulum (“joint”).

uder

1894 — James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, s.v. Falcon.
To the jesses, it is said, are attached the varvels, sometimes written vervels, or rings.

(falconry, heraldry) A metal ring bearing the owner's name or coat of arms, attached to a hawk's jesses. Used for identifying birds.


gemelle

(heraldry, rare) Alternative form of gemel


palet

(heraldry) Alternative form of pallet (“diminutive pale”)


Catherine wheel

en-noun

Catherine wheel (plural Catherine wheels)

Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to have been sentenced to execution on such a wheel, which shattered at her touch.

Sorcerers are too common; cunning men, wizards, and white witches […] have commonly St. Catherine's wheel printed in the roof of their mouth, or in some other part about them […]

[…] her tortures consisted of being broken on a wheel (later called Catherine wheel), but the machine broke down injuring bystanders; Catherine was beheaded.

1992, David Hugh Farmer, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3rd edition, page 88:

She only lied to the boy to keep him from hurt, and for her sin her intestines were pulled from her on a Catherine wheel.

2008, Peter Carey, His Illegal Self, page 181:

(historical or heraldry) A breaking wheel, or wheel with spikes on it.


nebuly

Elizabeth Brooke, […] Argent, a cross nebuly per pale gules and sable, […]

1895, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 134:

'That is the coat of the Blandamers—barry nebuly of six, argent and vert.' It was the organist who stood near him in the deepening shadows.' I forgot that such jargon probably conveys no meaning to you, and, indeed, I know no heraldry myself excepting only this one coat of arms, and sometimes wish,' he said with a sigh, 'that I knew nothing of that either. […] every tavern loafer will talk to you about the "nebuly coat" as if it were a thing he wore.'

1904, John Meade Falkner, The Nebuly Coat, page 14:

(heraldry) Edged in a deeply wavy line, intended to represent clouds.


rempli

rempli [...], a. [< F. rempli, pp. of remplir, fill up, < re- + emplir, fill, < L. implere, fill up : see implement.] In her., having another tincture than its own laid over or covering the greater part : thus, a chief azure rempli or has a broad band of gold occupying nearly the whole space of the chief, so that only a blue fimbriation shows around it.

1914, The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, page 5073:

Chief rempli, or bordered. Plate XXIX.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 21:

(heraldry, rare) Having another tincture than its own covering the greater part.


chequy

From Anglo-Norman escheké, eschequé (“chequered”), from eschec (“chess, check”). Influenced by chequ(er) + -y and check.

Sometimes the Princess was seen conferring spiritedly with the Spongiatosta security details posted about the streets nearby, whose livery bore the ancient family arms, a sponge couchant on a field chequy with flames at the foot.

2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 821:

(heraldry) Chequered; divided into small squares (chequers) by transverse vertical and horizontal lines.


queued

a lion rampant double-queued


viure

Viure, Wiure, or Wyer. These terms, according to several authorities, signify a very narrow fillet, generally nebuly, which may be placed in bend, in fess, or otherwise. We can point to but one instance of such a bearing, viz. the arms of Haidon, or Haydon, of Devon: argent , three bars gemels azure , on a chief gules a viure or. This is probably nothing but a wide line nebuly.

1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 320:

[…] how are the viures to be tricked?

1863, John Gough Nichols, The Herald and Genealogist, page 91:

(heraldry, rare) A thin ribbon crossing the field in any direction.


trussing

Sable, a falcon or, his wings expanded, trussing a mallard argent, on a chief of the latter, a cross botoné[…]

1845, Hugh Clark, An Introduction to Heraldry ... Thirteenth edition. greatly improved, page 40:

A hawk trussing.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 247:

Examples of this will be found in the arms of Madden ["Sable, a hawk or, trussing a mallard proper, on a chief of the second a cross botonny gules"], and in the crests of Graham, Cawston, and Yerburgh.

1909, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, page 242:

(heraldry, of a bird) In the act of seizing (something).


supercharged

[...] And over all, an Inescutcheon Azure, the whole supercharged by a Saltire Argent.

1729, Abel Boyer, Le Grand théâtre de l'honneur et de noblesse [assisted by John Innes] Fr. & Eng., page 219:

The Moretuses took as their arms : Of gold with an eagle of sable charged upon his breast with a scutcheon of gules, supercharged with a star radiating with gold on a champaign checked with azure and five strokes silver.

1894, Max Rooses, Catalogue of the Plantin-Moretus Museum:

[...] is a blue cross supercharged with one of red, the whole enclosed by a blue [...]

1897, American Numismatic Society, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting, page 39:


estoile

Old French, from Latin stēlla. Doublet of étoile, stella, star, and aster.

doublet

(heraldry) A six-pointed star whose rays are wavy, as opposed to the straight lines of a mullet.


reremouse

From Middle English reremous, from Old English hrēremūs, hrœ̄remūs (“bat”). By surface analysis, rear (“to move, shake, stir”) + mouse.

surf

Argent, a reremouse sable,[…]

(rare, archaic, poetic or heraldry) A bat (flying mammal).


leashed

In the registration for William, Earl of Dundonald, 1672-78, the same person, the boars' heads are armed and langued of the field, and the supporters are collared or and leashed gules.

1881, Robert Riddle Stodart, Scottish Arms: Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678, Reproduced in Fascimile from Contemporary Manuscripts, page 59:

[...] a sleuthhound proper, collared and leashed gules.

1895, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 783:

[...] on the dexter a greyhound proper collared and leashed gules, on the sinister an ostrich proper, in its beak a horse shoe azure.

1900, The Celtic Monthly: A Magazine for Highlanders, page 169:

Supporters; Two greyhounds per fess argent and or, collared and leashed gules, suspended from the collar, a shield azure , charged with the Speaker's Mace in pale or; and each charged on the flank with a thistle proper.

1902, Lincoln's Inn (London, England), The Records of the Honorable Society of Lincoln's Inn, page 377:

(heraldry) Having a leash of a specified color.


respectant

French, present participle of respecter.

The sun is surmounted on either side by two white lions, respectant and sitting on an orange scroll inscribed UTMOST OF OUR ABILITY in gold letters.

(heraldry, numismatics) Placed so as to face one another; face to face.


flottant

[…] gules; second, Azure, a sinister hand a paumee, couped, in pale, argent; third, Or, a galley, sails furled, oars in action, sable, flags flottant, gules; fourth, Argent, out of a mount in base, an oak-tree, vert[…]

1856, David MacGregor Peter, The baronage of Angus and Mearns, page 96:

[…] with tassels flottant upwards or; […]

1881, Scottish Arms, Being a Collection of Armorial Bearings A. D. 1370-1678, page 264:

[…] each surrounded by a banner flottant from the sides, the dexter flag charged with a cross, the sinister with a saltire, gules. The badge of the Order of St. Patrick is prescribed by the statutes of the Order, 28th February, 1783, wherein the saltire gules[…]

1903, Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, page 417:


renverse

From Old French renverser. Equivalent to re- + inverse.

Samuel Coggan. Lisbon, May 19, 1712; letter to David Jeffries de Co. Round seal, a lion rampant renversé.

1877, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, page 58:

The arms [on the 1790 Gelderland duit] may be thus blazoned: Party per pale, 1. azure, a lion rampant or, armed and langued gules, 2. or, a lion rampant renverse sable, armed and langued as before.

1909, Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon, Journal of the Dutch Burgher Union of Ceylon, page 218:

(heraldry, dated) Backwards, contourné, facing the opposite direction (sinister/dexter) than usual.


urinant

From Latin ūrīnāns, present active participle of ūrīnor (“I dive”).

On a chapeau gules, guarded ermine, a gurnet (fish) urinant proper.

1866, John Edwin Cussans, The Grammar of Heraldry: Containing a Description of All the Principal Charges Used in Armory, the Signification of Heraldic Terms, and the Rules to be Observed in Blazoning and Marshalling ; Together with the Armorial Bearings of All the Landed Gentry in England Prior to the Sixteenth Century, page 84:

2) gules, in bend two fish, urinant and hauriant, respectively, argent, their fins "dark azure" (sic).

1992, Donald R. Mandich, Joseph Anthony Placek, Russian Heraldry and Nobility, Dramco:

Azure, three trout interlaced in triangle: the chiefmost naiant, one urinant in bend, and one haurient in bend sinister, all argent.

2006, Encyclopedia Americana: Heart to India:

(heraldry): Of a fish: oriented vertically, with the head to base and tail to chief, as if positioned for diving.


repassant

Compare French repassant, present participle.

[...] Hee beareth, Sable, two lyoncels, the one paffant, the other repassant, Argent, both collared, Gules, but in mine opinion no man by this last blazon is able to tricke, or expresse the true portraiture and manner of the bearing of these lioncels, […]

1638, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie, page 194:

REPASSANT, a. [...] in her., term applied when two lions or other animals are borne going contrary ways, one of which is passant, by walking toward the dexter side of the shield in the usual way, and the other repassant by going toward the sinister.

1891, Alden's Manifold Cyclopedia of Knowledge and Language, page 23:

[…] To the right of the window is the image of a single passant repassant lion, which marches along the decorative[…]

1995, Lynn Anne Jones, Between Byzantium and Islam: Royal Iconography and the Church of the Holy Cross at Aghtamar:


masoned

(heraldry, of a building) Having the mortar and bricks of different tinctures.


affrontant

[...] an escarbuncle perse pometty argent Azure, a lion passant gardant argent Gules, two lions affrontant or Azure,[…]

2019, Roy Osborne, Renaissance Colour Symbolism, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 60:


affronté

Borrowed from French affronté, past participle of affronter (“to confront, face”).

... viz. quarterly, first and fourth gules, on a cheveron argent, a rose betwixt two lions affronté gules, for Hepburn; second and third argent, an orle gules, and in chief three martlets sable, for Rutherford; crest, a horse[…]

1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical: with the true art of Blazon ... Illustrated with suitable examples of armorial figures, and achievements of the most considerable surnames and families in Scotland ..., page 163:

[…] earliest designs were geometric, birds affronté (facing one another), peacocks, pomegranates, unicorns, pelicans, and […]

1910, Amy Milton Kohlsaat, Old Lace Manual, page 11:

(heraldry) Face to face, or with the fronts facing each other.

The crest of SCOTLAND [ - A lion affronté gules, crowned imperially Or, in the dexter paw a sceptre erect, surmounted by a fleur de lis gold; in the[…] ]

[…]; and (5) an ostrich feather with a scroll on the quill reading “Sovereign”, supported by a lion sejeant-affronté (seated, looking towards the viewer), but with the dexter paw holding the quill (Rothery, p.202).

2010 01, Wm. E. Baumgaertner, Squires, Knights, Barons, Kings: War and Politics in Fifteenth Century England, Trafford Publishing, →ISBN:

(heraldry) Looking frontwise, or toward the viewer.


membered

armed

sometimes birds are described as armed instead

(heraldry, of a bird) Having legs of a different tincture from that of the body.


semé

(heraldry) Sprinkled, sown, strewn: said of a field or charge when strewn with small (identical) charges.


combattant

From Middle English combattant, from Middle French combattant. Doublet of combatant.

VISCOUNT LORTON bears gu., two lions combattant, supporting a dexter hand.

1892, Charles Boutell, Heraldry, Ancient and Modern: Including Boutell's Heraldry, page 81:

(heraldry) In fighting position; said of two lions set face to face, each rampant.


cabré

From French cabré, from cabrer (“to rear up”).

[...] 2, gules, two joined hands proper, parée purple, accompanied by three stars or (two in chief, and one in base); 3, gules, a horse, cabré argent; 4, azure, a ship with three masts proper, sails inflated,[…]

1907, Cyrus Adler, Isidore Singer, The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, page 130:


chaussé

en-adj

chaussé (comparative more chaussé, superlative most chaussé)

more chaussé (comparative)
most chaussé (superlative)

Borrowing from French chaussé. Doublet of calceate.

(heraldry) Divided into three with two lines from the corners of the chief to the point in base.


glissant

a serpent glissant

(heraldry) Gliding horizontally in an undulant posture.


rompu

Borrowed from French rompu, past participle of rompre to break, Latin rumpō. See rupture.

Coordinate term: fracted

(heraldry) Broken, as an ordinary; cut off, or broken at the top, as a chevron, a bend, etc.


seadog

(heraldry) A charge resembling the talbot but with scales, webbed feet and a broad tail.


cendrée

grey:

(heraldry, rare) Grey, ashen; the blazoning term for grey.


sanglant

BERSANTER , or BERSAWTER, ar. three boars' heads sanglant, sa.

1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland:

The couchant lion armed and langued, with his paw upon the open book, is indeed, the crest; but what a shield — Tincture upon tincture; azure: a cross sanguine, with a lamb sanglant in the dexter chief!

1843, The British Magazine and Monthly Register of Religious and Ecclesiastical Information, Parochial History, and Documents Respecting the State of the Poor, Progress of Education, &c, page 38:

Crest—A falcon, wings elevate or, belled gu., preying upon a wing, arg., sanglant, ppr.

1853, Bernard Burke, Index to Burke's dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland, page 162:

A large shield, in the centre whereof was depicted / A hand lately severed, - the artist, addicted / ('Twas De Rodon bimself) to pre-Raphaelite rules, / Had made the wrist "sanglant" with drops from it "gules."

1855, Francis Edward Smedley, Mirth and metre by F.E. Smedley and E.H. Yates, page 69:


toison

For quotations using this term, see Citations:toison.


decrescent

From decressant, from Anglo-Norman [Term?], present participle of decreistre (“to decrease”).

(heraldry) A crescent oriented with horns turned to sinister (pointing to the viewer's right).


increscent

Attested since about 1675, from Latin increscens, present participle of increscere.

(heraldry) A crescent oriented with horns turned to dexter (pointing to the viewer's left).


dancy

From French danché (or an older form thereof). Compare dancetté.

a fess dancy


saliant

He beareth, Or, a Lion Saliant, Gules, by the name of Felbridge. The Proper forme of a Lion Saliant, is Lion Saliant when his right forefoot answereth to the Dexter corner of the Escocheon, and his hindmost foot the sinister base[…]

1632, John Guillim, A Display of Heraldrie, page 195:

Or two Wolves counter saliant Sable.

1842, Thomas Chatterton, Poetical Works: With Notices of His Life, History of the Rowley Controversy, a Selection of His Letters, and Notes, Critical and Explanatory, page 706:

Williams : argent , two foxes saliant counter-saliant in saltire, gules, the dexter surmounting the sinister (fig. 100). Sir Simon de Felbrigge, K.G .: or, a lion saliant gules (fig. 89). Fitz Payne: gules, three lions[…]

1898, The Encyclopaedia Britannica ...: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences and General Literature ... in Thirty Volumes with New American Supplement, page 699:

(heraldry, dated) Alternative form of salient


flamant

Sr Andrew Flamocke. [...] Crest -- A tree ragulée Vert flamant Gules.

1885, Walter Charles Metcalfe, A Book of Knights … 1566 [to] 1698, page 81:

75th Air Depot Wing 750 AIR / On a shield Or, a stylized aircraft Azure, throughout, in pale, thereon a sword Argent, flamant Gules, fimbriated Or,[…]

2001, Judy G. Endicott, The USAF in Korea: Campaigns, Units, and Stations, 1950-1953, Department of the Air Force, page 105:

(heraldry) Flaming (typically gules unless another color is specified).


humet

Uncertain. The OED speculates that it might derive from Old French heaumet (whence helmet), a diminutive of heaume (“helm”) supposedly applied to the bar of it; however, compare the early (1600s) use of humet for a slab of stone or tombstone.

[...] who take their Name from Hameyde, one of the two and twenty Baronies of that Province; thus D'Or a trois Hameydes de Geules, that is, Or, three Humets Gules, or Bars couped;

1725, James Coats, A New Dictionary of Heraldry, page 34:

Sa., on a humet arg., a martlet arg. (or.) Creft : A martlet as in the shield. Confirmed (with 1 quartering) to Hugh Bostock, of Moreton Say, who m. Margaret, daug. of Thomas Lee, of Langley. Harl MS. Boteler.

1869, Shropshire Arms and Lineages, page 10:

The Humet is a term sometimes, but seldom, used for a fesse, or bar humetty, i.e. couped at each of the extremities. Or, three humets sable , charged with as many annulets argent—AMBROSE, Lancashire.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 336:

(heraldry, rare) A fesse or bar cut off short at each end.


humet

[...] as Morgan in his Blazon of the Arms of Brabant, argent on a fesse humet gules, three leopards' heads or[…]

1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical: with the true art of Blazon ... Illustrated with suitable examples of armorial figures, and achievements of the most considerable surnames and families in Scotland ..., page 47:

erm. three bars humets or.

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

Sa, three bars humet ar.

1847, John Burke, Encyclopaedia 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: By John and John Bernard Burke:


cantoned

(heraldry) Having a charge in each of the four corners; said of a cross on a shield, and also of the shield itself.


fess point

(heraldry) The exact centre of the shield.


fimbriated

(heraldry) Having a fimbriation: a borderline, typically of a specified tincture.


imbrued

imbrued (comparative more imbrued, superlative most imbrued)

more imbrued (comparative)
most imbrued (superlative)

He bears for Arms : Argent, on a chief vert, two spear-heads erect of the field, the points imbrued gules.

1895, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, page 133:


alerion

From Middle French alerion. Cognate to French alérion.

(heraldry) A heraldic eagle, especially one displayed without legs/feet or beak.


reverberant

reverberant (comparative more reverberant, superlative most reverberant)

more reverberant (comparative)
most reverberant (superlative)

/ɹɪˈvɜːbəɹənt/

/ɹəˈvɝbəɹənt/

From Middle French reverberant (present participle of reverberer), or directly from Latin reverberāns (present participle of reverberō); compare French réverbérant, Italian riverberante, Portuguese reverberante, and Spanish reverberante.

Their tailes forked, nowed, resignant, reuerberant, descendant, percussed and contercoloured. In all these fourmes, or likenesses they are descriued, and pictured: as also otherwise ensigned or marked, then here is remembred. Wherefore I wil presently write more, […]

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 42:

A Lion rampant regardant, the tail reverberant or beaten back, or reboundant, as having beaten it to his back, and it hath rebounded again from thence.

(heraldry, of a lion’s tail, rare) Turned up sigmoidally, with the end pointing outward; reboundant.


ermined

[...] one of them being, Argent, within a bordure gules, the cross, crown of thorns, scourges and nails: the field of the other is ermined gules, with the pillar of the flagellation, the spear and reed.

1851, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, Memoirs Illustrative of the History and Antiquities of Norfolk and the City of Norwich, page 201:

(heraldry) Having an ermine tincture in a colour other than black and white.


ged

From Middle English gedde, from Old Norse gedda (“pike”), cognate with Icelandic gedda (“pike”), Danish gedde (“pike”).

(UK, dialect or heraldry) The pike or luce.


pizzled

On his shield was a lion rampant sable, pizzled azure.

(heraldry) Having the penis in a different tincture than the rest of the body.


countercharge

en-verb

countercharge (third-person singular simple present countercharges, present participle countercharging, simple past and past participle countercharged)

countercharges (present singular third-person)
countercharging (participle present)
countercharged (participle past)
countercharged (past)

(heraldry) To reverse the colors; to make counterchanged.


cross crosslet

en-noun

cross crosslet (plural crosses crosslet)

(heraldry) A cross with the ends of each arm crossed.


cross flory

(heraldry) A cross with the ends of the arms flory, having a shape like a fleur-de-lis (⚜).


corded

CORDED : Bound round with cord, - as, a Bale gules, corded or.

1893, John Edwin Cussans, Handbook of Heraldry: With Instructions for Tracing Pedigrees and Deciphering Ancient Mss., Rules for the Appointment of Liveries, &c, page 128:

Sable, two bars argent, corded or wreathed gules - WAYE, Devonshire, confirmed 1574.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 132:

(heraldry) Wound about with a cord or cords of a specified tincture.


mascle

From Middle English mascle, maskel, from Old French mascle, macle, from Medieval Latin mascula, from a Germanic source (compare English mesh). Doublet of mail.

(heraldry) A lozenge with a smaller lozenge-shaped hole in the centre.


retrait

KETHEL in Holland uses, Azure, a pale retrait in chief (i.e., a demi-pal) soutenu by a chevron between three cauldrons or.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 121:

The blazon : Arms : Per Saltire Gules and Or in fess two pellets pierced and in pale many plates also pierced on a chief Argent issuant as in chief seven pallets retrait two three and two Sable.

The upper margin is bordered by a low quality frieze bearing the coat of arms of Pope Gregory XV (r. 1621-1623) : gules, three bendlets retrait per fess […]

2010, Elena De Laurentiis, The Lost Manuscripts from the Sistine Chapel: An Epic Journey from Rome to Toledo:

(heraldry, rare) Not shown in full, but cut off at point it touches the edge of the shield, an ordinary, etc, as if retreating or withdrawn into that edge, ordinary, etc. (Compare issuant, naissant.)


maunch

From Middle English maunche, from Old French maunche, one of the variants of manche, from Latin manica. Doublet of manche.


vairy

(heraldry, of a field or charge) Divided into vair-bells of two or more tinctures.


fretty

The coats of various noble British families were originally fretty, but later 'simplified' to a single fret

(heraldry) Covered with a lattice-like pattern of diagonally interlaced bendlets and bendlets sinister.


terrasse

From French terrasse (“terrace”). Doublet of terrace.

(heraldry) A representation of the ground, serving as the base for another object; a terrace.


sinople

sinople (countable and uncountable, plural sinoples)

From Old French sinople, from Latin Sinōpis, from Ancient Greek Σινωπίς (Sinōpís, “of Sinope”), a town that exported a red ocher. The unexpected change to meaning "green" in heraldry occurred in French texts around 1350 for unclear reasons.

der

In heraldry, sinople (the green of blazonry) also signified love, joy, abundance.

1903, George Field, Ellis A. Davidson, A grammar of colouring, applied to decorative painting and the arts:

Espinosa (Spain and Flanders) : Argent, a tree terrassé sinople, accosted by two wolves affrontés, sable […]

1903, Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler, The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day, page 128:

This shield argent with three lions sinople (green) has remained the coat of arms of the House of Lannoy. The young knight built a home in the woods around the seigneurie of Lys.

1984, Lucile Kathryn Delano, Charles De Lannoy, Victor of Pavia, →ISBN:


essorant

(heraldry, of a bird) Standing, with wings spread, as if about to take flight.


apple of Grenada

en-noun

apple of Grenada (plural apples of Grenada)

For this service, he received from that monarch a picturesque addition to the arms of the family, in the form of a canton charged with the pomegranate (the apple of Grenada), which, as it was borne by his collateral descendants[…]


rayonnant

(heraldry) Giving off rays like those of the sun; rayonné; radiant.


accolé

From French accolé, past participle of accoler.

[…] and those of his heiress-wife; under the mistaken impression that the shield so used, accolé to his own, is that of the lady, whereas in my view it is that to which he is himself entitled, and to which she is not.

1896, John Woodward, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 146:

(Stratford, Earl of Aldborough.) Polack Sculp. Chippendale Armorial, two shields accolé, with supporters, on a mantle.
(Stratford (Edward), Earl of Aldborough). Armorial. Two Shields accolé, with supporters.

1905, Augustus Wollaston Franks, Ellis's Catalogue of British and American Book-plates (ex-libris), page 185:

However, the reverse-gilt glass panel, decorated with three accolé coats of arms and the date 1571, applied over the cartouche on the front of the ewer, ...

2012, Wolfram KoeppeClare Le CorbeillerWilliam RiederCharles TrumanSuzanne G. ValensteinClare Vincentet al., The Robert Lehman Collection: Decorative arts. XV, Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 134:

(heraldry) Joined or placed side by side (with); (of a pair of shields) displayed side by side and often leaning on or towards each other.


étincelé

(heraldry, rare) Semé (strewn) with sparks.


ployé

Thus, Argent, a chevron ployé gules (d'Argent, au chevron ployé de gueules) is the coat of the Danish AUGUSTINS or OWSTINS; the reverse is that of the RODENEGGS, Counts WOLKENSTEIN.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 137:


bleu celeste

Borrowed from French bleu céleste (“sky blue”).

(heraldry) A rarely-occurring sky-blue tincture, lighter than azure.


saltirewise

(heraldry) In the form of a saltire; crossing diagonally.


badelaire

Borrowed from French badelaire, baudelaire, a corruption of earlier (14th century) baselard.

(heraldry) This sword used as a heraldic charge.


sinisterwise

(heraldry, archaic) Sinister; on the left-hand side from the wearer's viewpoint.


dexterwise

[...] on the reverse is a fish, naiant dexterwise; the diameter is 0.02, and the material copper, silver being the only other metal used.

1876, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, page 273:

In his day, however, only two types were known, one with an amphora and the other with a goat on the reverse, the obverse of both showing a helmeted head of Pallas facing dexterwise.

1879, Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), The Journal of the Royal Geographic Society of London, page 165:

Or, a lion's gamb, erased dexterwise gules.

1884, Jacob Youde William Lloyd, The History of the Princes, the Lords Marcher, and the Ancient Nobility of Powys Fadog, and the Ancient Lords of Arwystli, Cedewen, and Meirionydd, page 198:

(heraldry, archaic) Dexter; on or toward the right-hand side from the wearer's perspective.


formée

Crest, two lances or, in saltier, headed ar. pennons hanging to them of the first, each charged with a cross formée gu.

1830, Thomas Robson (engraver.), The British herald, or Cabinet of armorial bearings of the nobility & gentry of Great Britain & Ireland:


forcené

From French forcené (“rabid”), past participle of forcener (“to go mad, become enraged”), from Middle French, from Old French forsener (“to be mad with rage”) (compare Old French forsenede (“one who has lost his mind”)), from for- + sen (“sense, reason, mind”), from Frankish *sinn (“sense, mind, judgement”).
Cognate with German Sinn (“sense, meaning, mind”), Dutch zin (“sense, desire”). More at for-, sense.

der

[…] sinister parted per fess Gules and Azure, in chief a horse forcené Argent between in sinister chief and dexter base an ancient crown Or, and in base a cross Gules fimbriated Argent between in each quarter five plates in saltire,[…]

2021 October 13, Judith Nasby, The Making of a Museum, McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, →ISBN, page 122:

[…] leading troops in the background, his horse forcené, his right arm gesturing both ahead to the summit and.

2022 January 18, Charles Caramello, Riding to Arms: A History of Horsemanship and Mounted Warfare, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN:

(chiefly heraldry, in reference to a horse) Rearing on the hind legs. (When another animal has this posture, it is termed rampant.)


barwise

en-adv

barwise (comparative more barwise, superlative most barwise)

more barwise (comparative)
most barwise (superlative)


bendwise

bendwise (comparative more bendwise, superlative most bendwise)

more bendwise (comparative)
most bendwise (superlative)

Az. a bend or betw. two dolphins embowed bendwise arg.

1892, Aaron Davis Weld French, Index Armorial to an Emblazoned Manuscript of the Surname of French: Franc, Francois, Frene and Others, Both British and Foreign, Boston, Priv. print., page 49:

(heraldry) Diagonally; placed like a bend, i.e. running from the dexter chief to the sinister base.


chevronwise

chevronwise (comparative more chevronwise, superlative most chevronwise)

more chevronwise (comparative)
most chevronwise (superlative)

CHEVRONNE, or Chevronny, ſignifies the dividing of the ſhield ſeveral times chevron-wiſe.

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:

(heraldry) Synonym of chevrony: chevron-like, in the manner of a chevron.


fesswise

(heraldry) In the manner of a fess; as a broad horizontal stripe.


palewise

An oblong figure fesswise divided palewise, from one end a thick projection, and in chief a crescent.

2007, Colin Stewart Sinclair Lyon, Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, Oxford University Press, USA:

(chiefly heraldry) Divided by perpendicular vertical lines like pales.

Erm. three longbows palewise in fess gu.

1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, page 348:

Three roundels in chief and two horse-shoes palewise in base, probably intended for the arms of Daubeney and Ferrers.

1904, Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, page 511:

Anchor: Placed palewise, unless otherwise blazoned

1965, Heather Child, Heraldic Design: A Handbook for Students, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 82:

In place of the rainbow there was, palewise on a field of gules, on either side of the shield, the broken lance which had caused the death of Henri II—Lacrymae hinc, hinc dolor was the motto. And to this symbolism of mourning was also[…]

2019 July 2, Jean Heritier, Catherine de Medici, Routledge, →ISBN:

In one shield the lis are positioned vertically or palewise, […] and the Poutrel lis were shown bend-wise in the glass at Prestwold church and pale-wise in Thomas Jenyns' Ordinary.

2020 January 9, Paul A. Fox, Great Cloister: A Lost Canterbury Tale: A History of the Canterbury Cloister, Constructed 1408-14, with Some Account of the Donors and their Coats of Arms, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 540:

(chiefly heraldry) In the direction of or positioned like a pale: vertically.


palewise

It is essentially the upper portion (or triangle) of the saltire met slightly above the fess point by a palewise line originating from the middle base. No varied field Bendy seems to have been adopted from this division.

1972, Marvin H. Pakula, Heraldry and Armor of the Middle Ages:

Party - in ancient heraldry, the word party, used alone, implied a palewise division of the field.

1983, Charles Boutell, Boutell's Heraldry, Frederick Warne Publishers:


gillyflower

By folk etymology (with influence from flower) from French girofle, gilofre, from Late Latin caryophyllum, from Ancient Greek καρυόφυλλον (karuóphullon, “dried flower buds of the clove tree”).

der

(heraldry) A stylized representation of a carnation blossom, usually red, and shown with or without a slip and leaves.


sexfoil

(heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf with six lobes


cinquefoil

From Old French cinqfoil, from cinq (“five”) + foil (“leaf”).

(heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf with five lobes.

quinquefoli

heraldry: stylized flower or leaf with five lobes


tiercé

(heraldry) Divided into three equal parts of three different tinctures; said of an escutcheon.


ravissant

(heraldry) In a half-raised position, as if about to spring on prey.

The Counts of Miranda quarter this coat with (2 and 3):—Arg. two wolves passant in pale Sa., each ravissant a lamb of the first; within a bordure Gu. charged with eight aspas Or for Avellenada..

And it came to pass that Clément Chardin des Lupeaulx, whose father was ennobled by Louis XV., and bore quarterly; of the first, argent, a wolf sable, ravissant, carrying a lamb, gules; of the second, purpur, three buckles argent, two and one; of the third, barry of six, gules and argent; of the fourth, gules, a caduceus winged and wreathed with serpents, vert; with four griffins' claws for supporters; and EN LUPUS In HISTORIA for a motto, managed to wurmount his half-burlesque escutcheon with a Count's coronet.

1900, Honoré de Balzac, Scenes from a Courtesan's Life, page 387:


Tudor rose

(heraldry) A heraldic emblem of England, formed from the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York.


crosslet

From Middle English crosselet, from Anglo-Norman croiselette; alternatively, cross + -let.

Then Vna gan to aske, if ought he knew, / Or heard abroad of that her champion trew, / That in his armour bare a croslet red.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

(chiefly heraldry) A small cross with crossed arms.


delf

From Middle English delf, delve, dælf (“a quarry, clay pit, hole; an artificial watercourse, a canal, a ditch, a trench; a grave; a pitfall”), from Old English delf, ġedelf (“delving, digging”) and dælf (“that which is dug, delf, ditch”), from Proto-West Germanic *delban (“to dig”), from Proto-Germanic *delbaną (“to dig”). More at delve.

two delves gules

(heraldry) A charge representing a square sod of turf, traditionally taking the form of a simple square (e.g. in the middle of an escutcheon), although modernly sometimes represented with the grass in profile.


Paschal Lamb

[…]but when the Holy or Paschal Lamb is intended then the face should be guardant or reguardant.

1894, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry, revised edition, page 362:

(heraldry) A lamb depicted with nimbus and bearing a flag (usually St. George's cross: argent a cross gules).

paaslam

heraldry: a lamb depicted with nimbus and bearing a flag


bouget

The heraldic sense derives from an older spelling and meaning of budget, "small bag" (compare Middle English bouget, bowgett (“a leather bag or wallet”)), from Middle French bougette (“little pouch”).

cog

(heraldry) A charge resembling a yoke and a pair of the water bags that were formerly used to supply an army in battle.


gonfanon

/ˈɡɑːn.fəˌnɑːn/

(heraldry) A banner with three "tails", typically with the middle one longer than the others, and three loops at the top representing where it would have been attached to a pole.


gonfalon

/ˈɡɑːn.fəˌlɑːn/

From Middle English gonfalon, from Old French gonfalon, from Frankish *gunþifanō, from Proto-Germanic *gunþifanô.


couple-close

(heraldry) A diminutive of the chevron, always borne in closely placed pairs.

två smala sparrar

heraldry: diminutive of the chevron, always borne in pairs


dimidiation

en-noun

dimidiation (countable and uncountable, plural dimidiations)

/dɪˌmɪdɪˈeɪʃən/

/daɪˌmɪdɪˈeɪʃən/

Continuing the Middle English dimydicion (circa 1425, in an arithmetical sense), from the Late Latin dīmidiātiō.

(heraldry) A marshalling of two coats of arms by the bisection per pale of their escutcheons and forming a new coat of arms from the dexter half of one coat and the sinister half of the other.

dīmidiātiō

heraldry: marshalling of two coats of arms from the dexter half of one coat and the sinister half of the other


undifferenced

In speculating upon this curious controversy, the question naturally arises, whether a plain and undifferenced coat-armorial descends to a man's heirs, according to the ordinary rules of heritable succession, or whether it happens[…]

1863, George Seton, The Law and Practice of Heraldry in Scotland, page 336:

Nowadays, even the successive heirs to the principal or undifferenced coat of arms usually rematriculate after a few generations, or bring up to date a pedigree in the Public Register of Genealogies, both for the purpose of putting on[…]

1956, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry: A Practical Handbook on the Historical Principles and Modern Application of the Art and Science, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 109:

(heraldry) Not having a mark of difference.


dimidiate

en-verb

dimidiate (third-person singular simple present dimidiates, present participle dimidiating, simple past and past participle dimidiated)

dimidiates (present singular third-person)
dimidiating (participle present)
dimidiated (participle past)
dimidiated (past)

Latin dimidiatus, past participle of dimidiare (“to halve”).

[…] hybridization in the same vein is the beast shown as supporters to arms granted in 1971, where a unicorn dimidiates a lion rampant.

1973, Rhodesiana, numbers 28–31, The Rhodesia Africana Society, page 36:

(transitive, heraldry) To represent one half of, or undergo dimidiation with.


millrind

(heraldry) A heraldic charge resembling a stylized millstone support of this kind.


cinqfoil

The wife of Saher was Margaret sister and coheir of Robert Earl of Leicester, whose seal exhibits a cinqfoil.

1869, William Smith Ellis, The Antiquities of Heraldry, pPage 226:

(heraldry) Alternative spelling of cinquefoil


debruise

debruise (third-person singular simple present debruises, present participle debruising, simple past and past participle debruised)

debruises (present singular third-person)
debruising (participle present)
debruised (participle past)
debruised (past)

STEPANOV -1- A : Per bend argent and gules, a lion rampant contourne proper; surtout on the sinister three costs azure the second and third debruising and clenched in the lion's forepaws. M: Gules lined argent.

1992, Donald R. Mandich, Joseph Anthony Placek, Russian Heraldry and Nobility, Dramco:

(heraldry) To partially obscure one charge with another.


tierced

(heraldry) Divided into three (e.g. vertically, horizontally, or per pall).


issuant

(heraldry) Issuing or emerging from something, especially from the bottom (or a division) of the field or chief, or from an ordinary.

(heraldry, by extension, of an animal) Having only the upper half depicted, especially if because it is issuing from something (such as a division of the field). (Compare naissant.)


compony

From French componé, from Old French compondre, from Latin compōnere (“put together, arrange, compile”). Cognate with English compose, compound.

der

(heraldry, postpositive) Divided into a line of squares of alternating tinctures.


vuln

en-verb

vuln (third-person singular simple present vulns, present participle vulning, simple past and past participle vulned)

vulns (present singular third-person)
vulning (participle present)
vulned (participle past)
vulned (past)

Irregularly derived from Latin vulnerāre.

The shield depicts a pelican vulning herself.

For quotations using this term, see Citations:vuln.

(heraldry, especially of a pelican) To wound (oneself) by biting at the breast.


statant

a lion statant

(heraldry, of an animal) Standing on all four feet or paws.


triangled

The third, Gules triangled, or […]

1729, Abel Boyer, Le Grand théâtre de l'honneur et de noblesse … [assisted by John Innes?] Fr. & Eng, page 331:

Fish are borne different ways; upright, embowed, extended, endorsed, surmounted of each other, fretted, triangled, &c. All fish borne feeding should be termed devouring ...

1788, George Shelby Howard, THE NEW ROYAL CYCLOPAEDIA, page 1129:

(heraldry) Divided into triangles (said of the field).


guardant

From Old French guardant, present participle of guarder (“to watch”).

(heraldry, of an animal) Positioned with the body viewed from the side, but with the head turned toward the viewer.


hurty

en-adj

hurty (comparative hurtier, superlative hurtiest)

hurtier (comparative)
hurtiest (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hurty.wav

(heraldry, not comparable) Semé (strewn) with hurts (roundels azure).


vorant

For quotations using this term, see Citations:vorant.

(heraldry, of an animal) Devouring something.


hauriant

From Latin hauriēns (“drawing (water, etc.); draining”), the present participle of hauriō (“to draw (water, etc.); to drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ews- (“to draw water”).

der

three salmon hauriant

(heraldry) Of a fish, etc.: in a vertical orientation, with its head up (to chief) and tail down (to base).


saltant

From Latin saltans, present participle of saltare (“to dance”), v. intens. from salire (“to leap”): compare French sautant. See sally (verb).

Why the devil, can you deny that you've not a partiality for cats, ha! ha! ha! [...] the feline species is preserved - the crest is very evident a kitten saltant, ha! heh! heh!

1808, The Critical Review, Or, Annals of Literature, page 91:

"The luce is the fresh fish; the salt fish is an old coat." This speech is an heraldric puzzle. It is pretty clear that "the dozen white luces" apply to the arms of the Lucy family. [...] Since our first edition we have received an ingeniuous explanation from a correspondant, "A Lover of Heraldry." "The arms of the Lucies (not quartered by the Duke of Northumberland) are gules, three lucies hauriant, argent. [...] 'The salt fis (i.e. the fish or luce saltant) is an old coat.' Without taking it as a strict and formed adjective, I think in Shallow's mouth the salt luces may well mean the saltant lucies."

1867, The Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and Poems of William Shakspere: Comedies, page 41:

Two lions saltant as vis-a-vis, but reversed, one with head up, the other down.

1893, Journal of the Derbyshire Archæological and Natural History Society, page 43:

The issue at the bottom is decorated by two lions saltant.

1905, Ferdinand Justi, Sara Yorke Stevenson, Morris Jastrow (Jr.), Central and eastern Asia in antiquity, page 91:

Crest a squerrill saltant gules upon a rugged staffe party per fece gold and vert the leaues counterchanged, sett upon a wreath siluer and Sable, the mantletts gules doubled siluer, Botoned gold as it appeareth in ye margent.

1925, The Publications of the Harleian Society, page 78:

(heraldry) In a leaping position; springing forward; salient.


subordinary

(heraldry) Any device that is given less status (typically because it is less common or less simple) than the normal ordinaries.


brisure

/bɹɪˈʒʊə(ɹ)/

From French brisure, from briser (“to break”).

The baton is made now very short by the French, who call it baton peri, and is always a brisure, frequently made use of by the younger sons of France, of which I have treated in my marks of cadency, and shall do so again[…]

1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry ..., page 89:

But the bar (being a horizontal piece, a diminutive of the Fess), is not used like the French barre as a brisure for illegitimacy; a bar-sinister is an absurdity and impossibility.

1896, John Woodward, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 172:

(heraldry) A mark of cadency or difference.


reclinant

en-adj

reclinant (comparative more reclinant, superlative most reclinant)

more reclinant (comparative)
most reclinant (superlative)

From Latin reclinans, present participle. See recline.


murally

(heraldry) With a mural crown; found chiefly in the phrases murally crowned and murally gorged.


at gaze

When he wished to draw Harvey's attention to the peak-halyards, he dug his knuckles into the back of the boy's neck and kept him at gaze for half a minute.

1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous:

Lord John was standing at gaze with his finger on the trigger of his elephant-gun, his eager hunter's soul shining from his fierce eyes.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

They were prick-eared animals, roused by her voice from their business and standing now at gaze.

1955, William Golding, The Inheritors, Faber and Faber, published 2005, page 52:

(chiefly heraldry) Gazing; standing so as to stare (especially of deer); statant guardant. (Compare at bay.)


septfoil

(heraldry) A stylized flower or leaf with seven lobes.


flotant

Old French flotant, (French flottant), present participle of floter (“to float”).

a banner flotant

(heraldry) Represented as flying (fluttering) or floating mid-air or in water.


ferruled

(heraldry) Alternative form of viroled, veruled


gemel

From Middle English gemow, from Old French gemel, from Latin gemellus, diminutive of geminus (“twin”). The modern form is influenced by the Latin etymon.

two gemells silver between two griffins passant

1698, John Strype, Life of the learned Sir Thomas Smith:

(heraldry) One of a pair of small bars placed together.


gemel

A bar gemel / Two bars gemels, or two barrulets placed near and parallel to each other.


lunel

From French lunel, a heraldic term based on lune (“moon”). Compare Spanish lunel, Italian lunello.

(heraldry) A charge formed by four crescents in cross with their horns pointing inwards.


dancetté

From French danché, related to dent (“tooth”).

A fess dancetté has only three teeth in the whole width of the escutcheon.

(heraldry) Deeply indented; having large teeth.


lioncel

(heraldry) A small lion, when one of several in a coat of arms.


denticulated

(heraldry, of a bordure, very rare) Embattled, but with only the projecting portions visible, so that the bordure appears non-contiguous (but the spaces are part of the field, unlike compony).


countervair

(heraldry) A heraldic fur resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures: succeeding rows are reversed instead of staggered, so the bases of the panes of each tincture are opposite those of the same tincture in adjoining rows.


lozengy

(heraldry) Divided into or composed of rhombuses (lozenges).


jessant

From Old French gesant. Doublet of jacent.

That night she finds a locket on her pillow. Gold, in the shape of a heart, Cupids jessant round the perimeter.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 61:

(heraldry) Describing a charge which appears over, or covers, another charge as well as the field.


flanched

Gules, flanched ermine, on a chief azure three suns in splendour or.

1884, William Harvey, The Visitations of Bedfordshire: Annis Domini 1566, 1582, and 1634, page 99:

Fig. 58, Or, flanched gules.

1898, Edward Singleton Holden, A Primer of Heraldry for Americans, page 127:

(heraldry) Having flanches (often of a specified tincture).


chevronel

CHEVRONEL, a diminutive of chevron, and as ſuch only containing half a chevron.

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., volume II, page 183:

(heraldry) A bearing like a chevron, but of only half its width.


triparted

a cross triparted


unguled

Supporters, dexter, a unicorn ar. armed, maned, and unguled or; sinister, a lion, gu. Motto, In te Domine speravi, In thee , 0 Lord , have I put my trust.

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 9:

Supporters - Two pegasi, ermine, winged, bridled, crined, and unguled, or, each charged on the shoulder with a fleur de lis, azure. Motto - Virtute, non verbis.

1846, William Skey, The Heraldic Calendar: A List of the Nobility and Gentry Whose Arms are Registered, and Pedigrees Recorded in the Herald's Office in Ireland, page 46:

Argent, three roebucks passant regardant gules, attired and unguled sable. Crest - On a wreath of the colours, a demi-roebuck gules, attired and unguled sable.

1915, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, The Book of Public Arms: A Complete Encyclopædia of All Royal, Territorial, Municipal, Corporate, Official, and Impersonal Arms, London : T.C. & E.C. Jack, page 430:

(heraldry) Having hoofs of a tincture different from the body.


fructed

Derived from Latin frūctus (“fruit”) + -ed.

Coordinate term: fruitagée

He beareth, Argent, on a Mount in a Base, a Pine Apple tree, fructed, Proper, by the name of Pine.

1660, John Guillim, Francis Nower, A Display of Heraldie, page 131:

HASKELL, on a mount, an apple-tree fructed, ppr. pl. 94, n. 33.

1851, John Peter Elven, The book of family crests, page 229:

A dexter Cubit arm, couped, vested sable, cuffed or, charged with a Cross paté of the last, holding in the hand an Oak branch fructed all proper

1870-1881, John Edwin Cussans, History of Hertfordshire:

(heraldry, of a tree or plant) Bearing fruit or acorns.


undé

The achievement of the Lord Maderty is, or, three bars undé gules, and, on a canton argent, a lion's head erased, within a double tressure counter-flowered gules;[…]

1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, page 66:

Argent, a fesse undé gules; […]

1898, Edward Singleton Holden, A Primer of Heraldry for Americans, page 109:

(archaic, heraldry) Waving or wavy; applied to ordinaries, or division lines.


tenné

tenné:

(heraldry) A rarely-used tincture of orange or bright brown.


tenné

Arms : Quarterly of eight , I or a lion rampant tenné, on a chief sable three escallops or, 2 azure a tower domed argent, 3 barry or and gules,[…]

1985, Stained Glass Before 1700 in American Collections: Corpus Vitrearum Checklist:


viroled

Az., a saltire or, in base a hunting-horn arg., viroled vert and stringed of the second, on a chief of the third a buckle in pale of the field between two cushions gu. COLLOW OF AUCHENCHEYNE (1773).

1893, James Balfour Paul, An Ordinary of Arms Contained in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland, page 200:

(heraldry) Furnished with viroles; said of a horn or bugle whose rings are of different tincture.


woolpack

From Middle English wolpak, wullepak, equivalent to wool + pack.

(heraldry) A charge resembling a pillow or cushion.


virole

From French virole (“ferrule”). See ferrule.

[…] except when he has a hood, bells, virols, or rings, and leashes, in which case he is said to be hooded, belled, jessed, and leashed; […]

1836, Sir Daniel Keyte Sandford, The Popular Encyclopedia;: pt. 1: England-Germany (literature and science), page 698:

The Florentine GUICCIARDINI bore : Azure, three hunting-horns argent, the mouth-pieces and viroles or, banded gules. Gules, three trumpets fessways in pale argent, is the canting coat of CALL (Baronets).

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 386:

Viroled- (vi-rold') Furnished with a virole or viroles. Said of a bugle or horn when borne with rings of a different tincture from the bugle itself.

1908, Arthur Francis Pimbley, Pimbley's Dictionary of Heraldry: Together with an Illustrated Supplement, page 67:

(heraldry) A ring surrounding a bugle or hunting horn.


enfiled

(heraldry) Having some object, such as the head of a man or beast, impaled upon it.


fitchy

From French fiché, past participle of ficher (“to fasten”), Old French fichier (“to pierce”). Compare fish.

(heraldry) Sharpened to a point; pointed.


rustre

(heraldry) A lozenge with a smaller round hole in the centre, showing the field (rarely used).


countersalient

(heraldry) Leaping in opposite directions (as if past or away from each other); said of two figures on a coat of arms.


anserated

Perhaps related to serrated because the ends are often also parted (to terminate in two animal heads, as with a cross gringolée).

an anserated cross

(heraldry, uncommon) Having the extremities terminate in the heads of eagles, lions, etc.


wolfsangel

From German Wolfsangel (literally “wolf hook”).

bor

(heraldry, symbology) A Z-shaped symbol, reminiscent of the Germanic wolf hook hunting device


gyronny

(heraldry, of an escutcheon) Covered with gyrons, or divided into several gyrons, typically eight.


opinicus

Coordinate term: griffin

Two opinici vert, beaked sable, wings gules, support the insignia of the Plasterers’ Company.

1847, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, Oxford: John Henry Parker, page 233:

Urcheons, bagwyns, opinici and musimons, represented statant, sejant or segreant, and in every variety of metal, colour and fur, completed an exhibition which was both boastfully heraldic and pompously powerful.

No blood need be shed in settling these anatomical problems, as opinici are of little importance, there being barely a dozen examples.

1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, page 150:

Even when they ascend to the loftiest perch for their kind and earn the right to serve on the Council of Keythongs, the wingless ones are still not permitted the same rights as gryphons and opinici.

2019, Paula Grover, The Gryphon, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 22:

(heraldry) A heraldic imaginary creature with an eagle's head, a short tail, and sometimes wings.


nebulated

en-adj

nebulated (comparative more nebulated, superlative most nebulated)

more nebulated (comparative)
most nebulated (superlative)


guly

guly (comparative more guly, superlative most guly)

more guly (comparative)
most guly (superlative)

those fatal guly dragons

1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916, →OCLC:

(obsolete, heraldry) Of or pertaining to gules; red.


nowed

From French noué, past participle of nouer (“to knot”), from Latin nodare. See nodated.

a serpent nowed


pheon

(heraldry) A bearing representing the head of a dart or javelin, with long barbs which are engrailed on the inner edge.


trefoiled

If the shield is regarded as one showing dimidiated arms, then it may be read as (dexter) gules, a cross trefoiled and voided or, . .. (sinister) gules (2), on two pallets argent, ladders (2) semé (?) azure.

1993, Adolph S. Cavallo, Medieval Tapestries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, →ISBN, page 141:

(heraldry) Having a three-lobed extremity or extremities; of a cross: having ends which terminate in trefoils (similar or identical to bottony).

There is a plain trefoiled window above in the tower; the lower part of the spire having two lancet windows, with a circle […] The pulpit is of modern oak, of five panels, each panel being divided into two trefoiled arched partitions;[…]

2014 March 28, James Conway Walter, A History of Horncastle (Illustrated), Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN:

(especially heraldry) Ornamented with trefoils projecting from the edges, as a bearing, partition, etc.


counterpassant

Arg. a bend engr. betw. in chief a lion pass., and in base a lion counterpassant gu.

1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, page 202:

(heraldry) Passant in opposite directions; said of two animals, or of one animal in relation to another animal on the same shield.


Norroy

From Old French norht, north, nort (“north”) + roi (“king”), Anglo-Norman roy (“king”).

(heraldry) The most northern of the English kings-of-arms, whose jurisdiction lies north of the Trent.


langued

From French langue (“tongue”). See language.

[…] Armed, as heralds cant, and langued, / Or, as the vulgar say, sharp-fanged; […]

1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 2:

lions […] represented as armed and langued gules

1866, John Edwin Cussans, The Grammar of Heraldry:


recursant

From Latin recursans, recursantis, present participle of recursare (“to run back”), v. freq. of recurrere. See recur.

Argent, an eagle recursant, wings overture, sable.

1870, Routledge's Magazine for Boys, page 64:

(heraldry, especially of an eagle) Having its back towards the observer.


engrail

en-verb

engrail (third-person singular simple present engrails, present participle engrailing, simple past and past participle engrailed)

engrails (present singular third-person)
engrailing (participle present)
engrailed (participle past)
engrailed (past)

He crossed through the high grass and went up the slope, climbing with handholds in the new turf until he gained the crest and turned to look down on the river and the city beyond, casting a gray glance along that varied world, the pieced plowland, the houses, the odd grady of the small metropolis against the green and blooming hills and the flat bow of the river like a serpentine trench poured with dull slag save where the wind engrailed its face and it shimmered lightly in the sun.

1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 120:

(transitive, heraldry, archaic) To indent with small curves.


tressured

/ˈtɹɛʃə(ɹ)d/

These instances, to say nothing of the tressured lion of the Scottish kings, are enough to show the complete acceptance of heraldry in Scotland at that time.

1914, John Horne Stevenson, Heraldry in Scotland, page 24:

When at sunrise the tressured lion was hoisted before the Lord-Lieutenant's pavilion, it was greeted by a salute of trumpets, and such a salute it was, in 1645, that first warned Argyll that Montrose, the King's Lieutenant,[…]

1956, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney, Scots Heraldry: A Practical Handbook on the Historical Principles and Modern Application of the Art and Science, Genealogical Publishing Com, →ISBN, page 216:

(heraldry) Provided with or bound with a tressure; arranged in the form of a tressure.


barruly

From Middle English berlē, beurlē, from Old French barlé, burlé, barelé, burelé.

Coordinate term: barry

(heraldry) Traversed (transversely) by barrulets or small bars.


interfretted

Crest: Two laurel branches interfretted proper.

1910, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour, page 1025:

Ermine, a Paternoster having the upper limb of the crucifix bent to dexter, gold, and interfretted with three bendlets gules, all between two dragons' heads erased sable, jessant-de-lys, or.[…]

1921, Herman Joseph Heuser, American Ecclesiastical Review, page 393:

(heraldry) Interlaced; linked together; said of charges or bearings.


barways

en-adv

barways (comparative more barways, superlative most barways)

more barways (comparative)
most barways (superlative)


rousant

(heraldry, of a bird, postpositive) Rising; represented in profile with its wings raised and typically also addorsed.


countertrippant

(heraldry) Trippant in opposite directions.


verdoy

French verdoyer (“to become green”). See verdant.

Gules a Bordure Argent charged with Verdoy of Trefoils slipped proper, that is Vert.

1693, Richard Blome, The Art of Heraldry, in two parts ... the second edition, page 21:

SCOTT of Hedderwick, a younger son of Scott of Logie, argent, a fesse crenellé, between three lions' heads erased, gules; within a bordure of the last, verdoy of six flower-de-luces of the first.

1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry, speculative and practical, page 172:

Quarterly; 1st and 4th, the arms of France and England, quarterly; 2d, arms of Scotland; and 3d, those of Ireland; the whole within a border compone, argent and gules, the first charged with verdoy of roses of the second[…]

1827, Encyclopaedias, Encyclopaedia Edinensis: or, Dictionary of arts, sciences, and literature, page 163:

(heraldry) Charged with leaves, fruits, flowers, etc.; said of a border.


enarched

(heraldry) Bent into a curve; said of a bend or other ordinary.


flanch

English dialect [Term?] (“a projection”), Old French flanche (“flank”). See flank.

(heraldry) A bearing consisting of a circle segment encroaching on the field from the side, and always occurring in pairs.


debruised

See debruise. Compare Old French debruisier (“to shatter, break”). Compare bruise.

uder

A lion is debruised when a bend or other ordinary is placed over it.

The lion of England and the lilies of France without the baton sinister, under which, according to the laws of heraldry, they were debruised in token of his illegitimate birth.

1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter II, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:

Serpent, embowed, the head debruised, or surmounted of the tail; also blazoned, […]

1828, William Berry, Encyclopaedia Heraldica, Or Complete Dictionary of Heraldry, page 5:

(heraldry) Surmounted by an ordinary (or something else).


umbrated

This window consists of three lights, with trefoil arches in their heads. There remained, in the seventeenth century, a shield of stained glass in this window, bearing a lion rampant umbrated, over all a bend gules, Sutton.

1840, George Poulson, The History and Antiquities of the Seigniory of Holderness, in the East-Riding of the County of York: Including the Abbies of Meaux and Swine, With the Priories of Nunkeeling and Burstall, page 260:

He then introduces some fanciful remarks about arms being umbrated or shadowed, an idea apparently arising from their […]

1865, The Herald and Genealogist, page 96:

3 dolphins bowed and umbrated—Caldicote.

1894, Samuel Tymms, Charles Harold Evelyn-White, East Anglian, Or, Notes and Queries on Subjects Connected with the Counties of Suffolk, Cambridge, Essex and Norfolk, page 373:


embowed

A dexter and sinister arm embowed in armour, each hand grasping a spear erect […]

1864, Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales:

(heraldry) Bent, curved or arched like a bow.


campaned

For quotations using this term, see Citations:campaned.

(heraldry, uncommon) Furnished with campanes (bells).


guze

Uncertain. Attested since at least 1562. According to "A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry" by James Parker (published in 1894) it comes from Turkish göz, meaning “eye”.

(heraldry) A roundlet of the sanguine tincture, which is blazoned without mention of the tincture.


counterchanged

If the field is divided palewise, or and azure, and cross is borne counterchanged, that part of the cross which comes on the azure side will be or, and that on the or side will be azure.

(heraldry) Having the tinctures exchanged mutually.


appaumé

(heraldry, of a hand) Open and extended so as to show the palm with thumb and fingers at full length.


morné

From French morné. Possibly doublet of mourn.

A lion morné appears as a canting charge in the coat of the old French family of DE MORNAY : - Fascé d'argent, et de gueules, au lion morné de sable couronné d'or brochant sur le tout. I have noticed that the lion morné occurs in the arms of several old Breton families, KERBOURIOU, KERBESCAT, KERANGUEN, etc.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 218:

[…] Self-appointed 'reformers' of heraldic terminology will contend that since lions morné and lions eviré have have barely an existence in current armory, the words themselves are mere textbook fill-up […]

1963, Julian Franklyn, Shield and Crest: An Account of the Art and Science of Heraldry, page 92:

(heraldry, attitude of beasts) Rampant without teeth, beak, tongue, claws, etc.


herisson

French hérisson, hedgehog. Doublet of urchin.


fracted

Chevron. (Stafford.) 4. Chevron ployé. (Moll.) 7. Chevronels. (Clare.) 10. Chevron fracted. (Rozier de Linage.) 2. Chevron checquy. (Sempill.) 5. Chevron reversed. (Bulgarini.) 8. Chevron cotised. (Clutton.)[…]

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 136:

[…] gules a chevron raguly fracted in the centre argent (F.)

1902, Joseph Foster, Some Feudal Coats of Arms from Heraldic Rolls 1298-1418: Illustrated with 830 Zinco Etchings from Effigies, Brasses and Coats of Arms, page 83:

[…] in base saltireways a pipe, bowl up, and a tomahawk, blade up and turned outward, the shaft fracted, all gules.

1908, Ralph Adams Cram, Christian Art: An Illustrated Monthly Magazine Devoted to Current Church Building, American and Foreign, and the Allied Ecclesiological Arts, with Expert Discussions of All Topics Relating to Christian Archaeology, page 70:

(heraldry) Having a part displaced or broken; said of an ordinary or other charge.


bicorporate

A bicorporate lion, gardant, rampant, counter-rampant, coward, is seen in the arms of John Northampton, Lord Mayor of London[…]

1857, The Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, page 152:

Gules, a bicorporate lion guardant rampant counter-rampant coward or, ducally crowned azure - John NORTHAMPTON, Lord Mayor of London, 1381 and 1382.

1894, Henry Gough, James Parker, A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry, page 378:


fitched

Argent, two bars wavy sable, and on a chief of the second three crosses patée fitched or, to the name of Hurbey

(Can we date this quote?), William Newton, Display of Heraldry:


shakefork

CUNNINGHAM of GLENGARNOCK, descended of a second Son of Henry Cuninghame of Kilmaures, and his Spouse Riddel Heiress of Glengarnock […] carry Argent, a Shakefork Sable, charged with a Cinque foil of the first: […]

1722, Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry Speculative and Practical, page 196:

CUNYNGHAME of Milneraig and Livingston (L. O., 1775). Argent, a shakefork sable between three fleurs-de-lis azure, one in chief and two in flank.

1910, Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, Armorial Families: A Directory of Gentlemen of Coat-armour, page 403:

(heraldry) A pall, especially one which stops short of the edges of the shield and which has pointed ends.


escarbuncle

Old French escharboncle, see Modern French escaboucle.

(heraldry) A carbuncle (heraldic charge).


escaloped

en-adj

escaloped (comparative more escaloped, superlative most escaloped)

more escaloped (comparative)
most escaloped (superlative)

(heraldry) Covered with a scaly pattern resembling a series of escalop shells, each of which issues from between two others. (Compare papelonné.)


engrailment

en-noun

engrailment (countable and uncountable, plural engrailments)

(heraldry) Indentation in curved lines, as of a line of division or the edge of an ordinary.


charbocle

The horse is entirely covered by a flowing checkered trapper, with a charbocle like that of the earl's crest, fixed between the ears.

1914, Surrey Archaeological Collections, page 125:

The device of the charbocle is thought to emanate from an ornamental or more probably a constructional part of a shield and is most often associated with the kings of Navarre or the counts and dukes of Cleves, and as a difference with the family of Mandeville. The centre of the charbocle was sometimes known as the heart and the possibility that the heart depicted at the centre of the Basset charbocle may be a pun cannot be ignored.

2002, Laurence Keen, Eileen Scarff, Windsor, page 133:

The armorial decoration of the inside of the shield, in the form of a charbocle on a ground powdered with fleurs-de-lis, was recognised by Gough as referring to Joan of Navarre, the second wife of Henry IV.

2003, Jenny Stratford, The Lancastrian Court: Proceedings of the 2001 Harlaxton Symposium, page 132:

The oval medallion consists of a crowned shield with two rampant lions as supporters. The crowned lion on the left represents Berg whereas the lion on the right symbolizes Jülich. The triparted shield consists of a charbocle (Cleve) , a fess checky (Mark), and three chevrons (Ravensburg).

2004, Jamestown Rediscovery, 1994-2004, page 4: