counterpassant

English

The arms of Hurstpierpoint College include two wolves passant counterpassant gules.

Etymology

From counter- +‎ passant.

Adjective

counterpassant (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Passant in opposite directions; said of two animals, or of one animal in relation to another animal on the same shield.
   • 1874, John Woody Papworth, An Alphabetical Dictionary of Coats of Arms Belonging to Families in Great Britain and Ireland, page 202:

     Arg. a bend engr. betw. in chief a lion pass., and in base a lion counterpassant gu.

Alternative forms

• counter-passant

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “counterpassant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)