brisure
noun/bɹɪˈzjʊə(ɹ)/ · /bɹɪˈʒʊə(ɹ)/
Etymology From French brisure, from briser (“to break”).
1
Any part of a rampart or parapet which deviates from the general direction.
2
Government, Heraldry, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Monarchy, Nobility, Politics A mark of cadency or difference.
- The baton is made now very short by the French, who call it baton peri, and is always a brisure, frequently made use of by the younger sons of France, of which I have treated in my marks of cadency, and shall do so again[…]1804, Alexander Nisbet, A system of heraldry ..., page 89:
- But the bar (being a horizontal piece, a diminutive of the Fess), is not used like the French barre as a brisure for illegitimacy; a bar-sinister is an absurdity and impossibility.1896, John Woodward, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 172: