Meanings
plural armorial bearings
- governmentHeraldry that consists of a design or image depicted on a shield.
1 more example
[…]when the French seized Malta they were by no means so delicate. They effaced armorial bearings with their usual hot-headed eagerness; and a few years after they had torn down the coats of arms of the gentry, the heroes of Malta and Egypt were busy devising heraldry for themselves, and were wild to be barons and counts of the empire.
1846, Mr. M. A. Titmarsh [pseudonym; W. M. Thackeray], chapter VIII, in Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo […] , London: Chapman and Hall, page 140
Synonyms & antonyms
nounheraldry consisting of a design or image depicted on a shield
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
armorial bearing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/armorial%20bearing
“armorial bearing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/armorial%20bearing. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “armorial bearing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/armorial%20bearing.
Source: armorial bearing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.