urdé

See also: urde

English

A line urdé. (Per fess urdé, argent and gules.)

Alternative forms

• urdy, urdée

Etymology

Possibly from a misreading of French [croix] vidée (“reduced [cross]”), in croix aiguisée et vidée, a cross pointed and reduced or voided.

Alternatively, from Anglo-Norman urdee, ordé (“pointed”), ultimately from Frankish *ord (“point”), from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”). More at English ord.

Adjective

urdé (not comparable)

1. (heraldry) Pointed, as a cross, or having a point projected, as a bend; varriated.

   Synonym: aiguisé

   • 1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica or a Dictionary of Arts and Sciences [...]:

     A cross urdé seems to be the same with what we otherwise call chleche, or chlechée. See CHLECHE.

   • 1891, Surrey Archaeological Society, Surrey Archaeological Collections: Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County, page 344:

     The sacred monogram is engraved on the bowl, the top of the letter I forming a cross urdé.

   • 1915, The Autocar:

     Badge : A Cross-urdé resting on wreath of laurels and oak banded gold.

   • 1919, Henry Taprell Dorling, Ribbons and Medals: Part 1-2, page 37:

     The decoration consists of a cross urdé enamelled white with gold edges, resting on a wreath of laurel and oak enamelled green . In the centre, edged with gold, is a circular plaque enamelled crimson bearing the cypher  […]

   • 1923, Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, A Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, page 301:

     In heraldry, as many as 285 varieties of cross have been recognized, but the twelve in ordinary use, and from which the others are derived, are: (1) The ordinary cross; (2) the cross humetté, or couped; (3) the cross urdé […]

Usage notes

• Sometimes equated with cleché (where the cross swells prior to the point: compare a cross aiguisé, also termed pointed, and a cross cleché). Contrast fitchy, where only the bottom beam is pointed.

Anagrams

• Duer, dure, rude, rued, ured