hatchment

American  

[hach-muhnt] / ˈhætʃ mənt /

noun

Heraldry.

1. a square tablet, set diagonally, bearing the coat of arms of a deceased person.

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hatchment British  

/ ˈhætʃmənt /

noun

1. Also called: achievement.  heraldry a diamond-shaped tablet displaying the coat of arms of a dead person

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Etymology

Origin of hatchment

First recorded in 1540–50; variant (by syncopation and aspiration) of achievement

Example Sentences

She gently and tactfully let Olive know that she had found out the identity of the great man, and they went together to stand for a minute or two outside Ayr House, where the hatchment, crape-hung, was all that was left of so much grandeur and of such high dignities and honors.

From Project Gutenberg

It would be cynical to say that at such a moment Mr. Beadon derived a positive pleasure from conducting a mass of requiem for the dead earl, and if for a moment he regarded with a kind of gloomy triumph Squire Kingdon's inevitable conformity to the majestic ritual of woe expressed by the catafalque from which depended the dead earl's hatchment, he made up by the grave eloquence of his funeral oration for any fleeting pettiness.

From Project Gutenberg

An escutcheon or ensign armorial; now generally applied to the funeral shield commonly called hatchment.

From Project Gutenberg

Then, or it might be a fortnight afterwards--so long I think respect for my lady's loss and the new hatchment restrained the good-for-naughts--the trouble began.

From Project Gutenberg

Hatchment, hach′ment, n. the arms of a deceased person within a black lozenge-shaped frame, meant to be placed on the front of his house.

From Project Gutenberg