coat of arms
- noun
- /koʊt əv ɑrmz/
- The Darwin family's ancestral coat of arms consisted of three scallop shells in a row.
- family coat of arms
- two coats of arms
Even though both our countries have an eagle on their coat of arms, people currently are focused on a different bird, a chicken.
- Even though both our countries have an eagle on their coat of arms, people currently are focused on a different bird, a chicken.
- That's one of the reasons why we see it a lot on coats of arms, because it combines the two kind of kings of the beast world, the eagle and the lion.
Examples
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I found out about the coat of arms.
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My family's coat of arms.
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That looks like the coat of arms we have at home.
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Maybe your daughter would enjoy adding a coat of arms to her card.
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That is the coat of arms, over the fireplace.
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My family doesn't have a coat of arms.
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El Cano, too, was celebrated in Spain with a coat of arms and his face on currency and stamps.
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The presidential coat of arms is emblazoned on plush cerulean carpeting.
Fiction book (2001) -
The building's exterior, bristling with papal tiaras and coats of arms, has the imposing air of a fortress.
Academic text (1994) -
The Darwin family's ancestral coat of arms consisted of three scallop shells in a row.
Synonyms
Official symbols that represent a family, city, or organization, often shown on a shield
A picture or symbol on a shield that shows who a family is
How Official
Surface Forms
Morphology
Although there is a historical compositional link (a coat bearing a family's arms), a B1 learner who knows 'coat' as a garment and 'arms' as weapons or limbs would not readily infer the specialized meaning 'heraldic design'. The phrase is conventionalized and requires knowledge of the heraldic sense of 'arms', so there is a partial but not fully predictable connection.
Etymology
Coat of arms comes from long ago when knights wore a decorated coat over their armour to show their family's arms, meaning their shield design. So, the phrase came to mean the symbol that 'identifies' a family, state, or group.