orle

[awrl]

noun

1. Heraldry.

   1. a charge in the form of a narrow band following the form of the escutcheon within the edge, so that the extreme outer edge of the escutcheon is of the field tincture.

   2. an arrangement in orle of small charges.

      azure, an orle of bezants.

2. Armor.,  a thick roll of cloth or leather on a helmet forming a base for an ornamental crest.

3. Also called orlo. Also called orlet. Architecture.

   1. a border, as one formed by a fillet.

   2. a fillet at the upper end of the shaft of a column.

   3. a fillet between two flutes of a column.

orle

/ ɔːl /

noun

1. heraldry a border around a shield

Word History and Origins

Origin of orle¹

1565–75; < Middle French: border, edge < Vulgar Latin *ōrulus, diminutive of Latin ōra border

Word History and Origins

Origin of orle¹

C16: from French, from ourler to hem

Example Sentences

As the remaining spellers dwindled, Shradha was given “orle,” a heraldry term that means several small charges arranged to form a border within the edge of a field.

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They chose a big orle, so big that the strongest field hands bent their backs under its weight.

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Paynel bore “Silver two bars sable with a border, or orle, of martlets gules.”

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The voided scocheon is wrongly named in all the heraldry books as an orle, a term which belongs to a number of small charges set round a central charge.

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Thus the martlets in the shield of Erpingham, already described, may be called an orle of martlets or a border of martlets.

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