FESS

Fess

In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third. The Oxford Guide to Heraldry states that earlier writers including Leigh, Holme, and Guillim favour one-third, while later writers such as Edmondson favour one-fifth "on the grounds that a bend, pale, or chevron occupying one-third of the field makes the coat look clumsy and disagreeable." A fess is likely to be shown narrower if it is uncharged, ...

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fess

Noun

  1. A horizontal band across the middle of the shield.

Verb

  1. To confess; to admit.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: fess
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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