COAT OF ARMS

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does coat of arms mean? 

• COAT OF ARMS (noun)
  The noun COAT OF ARMS has 1 sense:

1. the official symbols of a family, state, etc.

  Familiarity information: COAT OF ARMS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COAT OF ARMS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The official symbols of a family, state, etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

arms; blazon; blazonry; coat of arms

Hypernyms ("coat of arms" is a kind of...):

heraldry (emblem indicating the right of a person to bear arms)

Meronyms (parts of "coat of arms"):

crest ((heraldry) in medieval times, an emblem used to decorate a helmet)

Domain category:

heraldry (the study and classification of armorial bearings and the tracing of genealogies)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coat of arms"):

quartering (a coat of arms that occupies one quarter of an escutcheon; combining four coats of arms on one shield usually represented intermarriages)

 Context examples 

The coat of arms was on the envelope, and it was addressed in the Duke’s peculiar stiff hand.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But he exulted in private and longed for the time to come when he could give Jo a piece of plate, with a bear and a ragged staff on it as an appropriate coat of arms.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)