sejant rampant

English

A sculpture of a lion sejant rampant holding a coat of arms.

Adjective

sejant rampant (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Sitting with one or especially both of its forefeet lifted up.

   Synonym: sejant erect

   • 1860, James Fairbairn, Fairbairns Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland: Text, pages 186, 314:

     FOLEY, Baron, (Foley), a lion, sejant, rampant, or, between paws an escutcheon, charged with the family arms. Ut prosim. Pl. 22, cr. 13. FOLEY, Surr., a lion, rampant, ar., holding the same. Pl. 67, cr. 5. […] MACPHERSON, a grey cat, sejant, rampant. Touch not the cat bot the glove.

   • 1881, The Coin Collector's Journal, page 21:

     (3.) 1810. Obverse; a lion, sejant-rampant, facing left, holding a large key with his paws; inscription, PAYABLE AT ROBERT KEELING & SONS, GIBRALTAR. Reverse; similar to first reverse, but the key is omitted, and the date is very large […]

   • 1914, Charles Boutell, The Handbook to English Heraldry, page 86:

     A Scottish Lion sejant usually has his fore paws raised in the air, and in English terms of blazon would be described as "Sejant erect" or "Sejant rampant."

Usage notes

• This term—sometimes treated as a single descriptor and even hyphenated, as in the 1881 cite above about "a lion, sejant-rampant", and at other times treated as a sequence of descriptors, as in the 1860 cite about "a lion, sejant, rampant, or"—is little-used, especially outside England. Animals in this posture are often blazoned simply sejant, especially if having its forepaws raised is the typical way the animal sits (in life or in heraldry, as with a squirrel, marmot, etc). Compare the images in sejant.