Bachelor - A member of the oldest, but now the lowest, order of knighthood in Great Britain. Formerly a Bachelor meant a knight without a sufficient number of vassals to have his banner carried before him in battle.
Badge - A distinctive mark; a cognizance. It is somewhat similar to a crest, but was not placed on a wreath, nor was it worn on the helmet. The badge was a possession of princes, noblemen and other gentlemen of rank, and to this day is retained by some of those houses. The badge of the Plantagenets was the broom plant (Planta genista); the line of Lancaster had a red rose, while the badge of the house of York was a white rose.
In former times badges were embroidered on the sleeves of the servants and retainers, and the practice is still in use to some extent.
In the time of Henry IV the terms livery and badge seem to have been synonymous.
Badger - (Bad'-ger) A mammalian animal found in England and on the Continent. It is often used in heraldry. It is sometimes called a gray and also a brock.
Bagwin - (Bag'win) A mythical animal, having the tail of a horse, and with long horns curved over the ears.
Balls - Balls, occasionally tasselled, are sometimes shown on charges.
Ballet - (Bal'-lay) A bearing which consists of bezants, plates, hurts, etc., distinguished from each other by their color.
Bande - (Ban'-dy) The French word for the term in bend.
Banded - (Band'-ed) When a garb is bound together with a band of a different tincture it is described as banded of that tincture.
Bandrol - (Band'-rol) A small streamer depending from the crook of a crozier and folding over the staff. (Universal Dict.)
The small silk flag which occasionally hangs from a trumpet. (Johnson.)
Banner - A square flag, generally embroidered with the owner's arms. No one below the rank of knight banneret is entitled to a banner.
Banneret - Knight Banneret. The institution is an ancient one, and its members , who had the privilege of leading their retainers in battle under their own flag, ranked next in order below the Knights of the Garter, provided they were created on the battle field by the King; otherwise they took rank after baronets. The order is now extinct.
Bar - An ordinary which crosses the shield horizontally. It differs from a fesse in that it occupies only one-fifth of the field. There is room for but four bars on a shield.
Bars Gemel - Bars placed parallel to each other. A bar with closets placed in couples.
In Bar - Charges arranged in two or more rows. It differs from in fesse in that the latter term signifies charges in a single row.
Barbed - Bearded. Usually specifically of the arrow; also, of the five leaflets in the compound leaf of some roses.
Barbel - (Bar'-bel) A "bearded" fish found abundantly in the Thames and Lea. It is an early heraldic bearing.
Barded - A horse in harness is said to be barded and caparisoned. Originally a barded horse was one protected by metal trappings, such as those ridden by knights in medieval times. The armor covered the neck, breast and shoulders.
Barnacle - An instrument for pinching a horse's nose for the purpose of restraining him.
Baron - A nobleman of the lowest order of the English peerage.
Baroness - The wife of a baron, or a woman who holds the baronial dignity in her own right.
Baron and Feme - Applied when the coats of arms of a man and his wife are borne per pale in the same escutcheon. When the wife is not an heiress her arms occupy the sinister side, and the husband's the dexter. If she is an heiress, the husband bears her arms on an escutcheon of pretense.
Baronet - The lowest British titled order that is hereditary. They are supposed to take precedence immediately after the barons, but in reality their rank is inferior to that of the Knights of the Garter. The badge of a baronet is, sinister, a hand gules ("a bloody hand") in a field argent.
Barred - Supplied with bars; placed between bars. [BAR.] [BARRY.]
Barring - The same as BARRY or BARRULY. (Chaucer.)
Barrulet - (Bar'-rul-et) The barrulet is one-fourth of a bar, and occupies a twentieth part of the field; never borne singly. Sometimes called a bracelet. When used in couples barrulets are bars gemel.
Barrully - [The same as BARRY.]
Find another term:
Bachelor to Barrully
Barry to Belt
Bend to Bitted
Black to Blue Mantle
Boar to Bute
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