Term Description
Bailloné Applied to a lion holding a staff in his mouth
Balista An engine to throw stones and darts, also called Swepe
Banded Encircled with a band or ribband
Bar Is the diminutive of the fess, and of the same form, containing one-fifth of the field, and may be placed in any part of the escutcheon
Barbed Is derived from the French word "barbé". The five leaves wich appear on the outside of a full-blown rose are, in heraldry, called the barbs, and thus blazoned, a rose gules barbed and seeded proper
Barded A horse in harness is said to be barded and caparisoned.
Bar-gemel Two bars or barrulets placed parallel to each other, the word gemel being deroved from "Gemelli" twins
Barnacles Instruments used by farriers to curb horses
Barrulet 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.
Barry and barruly The division of the field by horizontal lines into a certain number of equal parts
Basilisk An heraldic monster, ressembling in shape the wivern or cockatrice, but having, at the end of its tail, the head od a dragon
Basnet (basinet) An old name for a helmet
Baton Derived from the French word baston, staff or cudgel, and generally borne as a mark of bastardy. It does not go from side to side of the shield as the bend does; but is couped in the form of a trucheon
Battled arrondie Denotes that the battlement is rounded at the top
Battle-imbattled One battlement upon another
Beaked When the beak and legs of a bird are of a different tincture from the body it is said to be beaked and membered of that tincture
Belled When a falcon or hawk has bells affixed to its legs it is said to be belled.
Bend Is formed by two lines drawn diagonally from the dexter chief to the sinister base, and comprises two parts of the shield
Bendlet A diminutive of the bend. Generally it is half the width of the bend; but sometimes it appears much narrower
Bendy Describes a field or charge divided, diagonally, into four, six, eight, or more egual parts
Bezant The current coin of Byzantium, or Constantinople - in English heraldry, represented as round flat pieces of gold without impress
Bezanté Semé de bezants
Bicapitated Having two heads, such as the two-headed eagle on the arms of Russia, as well as on those of Austria
Billeté Semé de billets
Billets Are oblongs squares, by some supposed to represent brick, by other letters
Bird-bolt A smal arrow with a blunt head
Bitted Said of a horse when borne with a bit of a different tincture from the animal itself, when it is said to be bitted of that color. This term is also used to describe a horse's head with bit and rein; as, "Three horses' heads couped, bitted and reined or."
Blood Color Sanguine
Border or bordure Was formerly a mark of difference, to distinguish one branch of a family from another. Its surrounds the field, occupying one-fifth of it
Botonny Applied to a cross, whose extremities resemble the trefoil
Bottoned Having bottonies, buttons, round buds or knots. They are generally displayed in threes. The term is essentially the same as treffled (trefoiled)
Bouget See water bouget
Bowed Embowed or arched
Braced same as interlaced
Brassarts and brassets Armour for the elbows and arms
Bretessé Imbattled, that has its battlements on each side, one against the other
Bullet A name sometimes given to the ogress or pellet
Burgonet A sort of steel cap, formerly worn by foot soldiers in battle