hamade

English

Alternative forms

• hamaide

Etymology

From French, derived from the town of La Hamaide (in Belgium).

Noun

hamade (plural hamades)

1. (heraldry) A bar that does not touch the edges of the shield, especially if borne as part of a set of three (which may be of equal length, or have the top bar longer than the bottom one; and may have straight edges, or slanted edges with the base shorter than the top).
   • 1952, The Coat of Arms: An Heraldic Quarterly Magazine:

     I said I thought that a hamade consists of three trunked bars, even though the Bigot Roll of 1254 blazons d'Abrichecourt's arms as having 'three hamades.' The writers in the Antiquaries' Journal, however, in addition to the Bigot Roll, […]

   • 1985, John Philip Brooke-Little, An Heraldic Alphabet, Robson Books Limited:

     It consists of a bar couped at each end, but was originally always borne in threes. There is a dispute as to whether a hamade is properly three couped bars and therefore cannot be borne singly. The adjective humetty (q.v.) is […]

See also

• humetté, humet

References

• Brooke-Little, J.P. (1996). An Heraldic Alphabet. Robson Books. p. 112.

Anagrams

• haemad