n. Any systematic way of distinguishing similar coats of arms belonging to members of the same family.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. Descent of related families; distinction between the members of a family according to their ages.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
n. Regularity of movement; rhythmical accord.
n. In heraldry, the relative status of younger sons. Also brisure.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. a recurrent rhythmical series
Word Usage
"Heraldry — abatement, cadency, clarion, escutcheon, jessant-de-lys, rampant, talbot (I could go on for close to a thousand words as classical heraldry uses Norman French)"