martlet

American  

[mahrt-lit] / ˈmɑrt lɪt /

noun

1. British Dialect. a house martin.

2. Heraldry. a representation of a swallow close and without legs, used especially as the cadency mark of a fourth son.

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martlet British  

/ ˈmɑːtlɪt /

noun

1. an archaic name for a martin

2. heraldry a footless bird often found in coats of arms, standing for either a martin or a swallow

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Etymology

Origin of martlet

1530–40; < Middle French martelet, variant of martinet; martin, -et

Example Sentences

On his road to and from Shottery, he would have passed "under the shade of melancholy boughs" and watched the "guest of summer, the Temple-haunting martlet," that built under the eaves of Anne Hathaway's house.

From William Shakespeare His Homes and Haunts by Forestier, A. (Amédée)

This guest of summer,    The temple-haunting martlet, does              approve,    By his loved masonry that the              heaven's breath    Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze.

From The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton by Burroughs, John

Butler’s well-known line, “The herald’s martlet hath no legs,” has rendered most readers aware of the singular defect of this otherwise beautiful charge.

From The Curiosities of Heraldry by Lower, Mark Antony

Andrew Harcla, the march-warden, whom Edward II. made an earl and executed as a traitor, bore the arms of St George with a martlet sable in the quarter.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 3 "Helmont, Jean" to "Hernosand" by Various

In the winter-time they had their taffeta gowns of all colors, as above named, and those lined with the rich furrings of wolves, weasels, Calabrian martlet, sables, and other costly furs.

From The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I by Lodge, Henry Cabot