Fesse

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z).
     1. (Law)
        (a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction
            in his own right, and not by deputation.
        (b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in
            matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also,


            a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to
            perform divine service for condemned criminals and
            assist in preparing them for death.
        (c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the
            powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.
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     2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
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              I see no more in you than in the ordinary
              Of nature's salework.                 --Shak.
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     3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
        a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
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              Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
              into an ordinary.                     --Bacon.
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     4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
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              Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
              other ordinaries.                     --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
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     5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for
        all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction
        from one where each dish is separately charged; a table
        d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
        dining room. --Shak.
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              All the odd words they have picked up in a
              coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
              flowers of style.                     --Swift.
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              He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
              peddlers and to ordinaries.           --Bancroft.
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     6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or
        ten which are in constant use. The {bend}, {chevron},
        {chief}, {cross}, {fesse}, {pale}, and {saltire} are
        uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include
        bar, bend sinister, pile, and others. See {Subordinary}.
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     {In ordinary}.
        (a) In actual and constant service; statedly attending and
            serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An
            ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a
            foreign court.
        (b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a
            naval vessel.
  
     {Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass
        which is the same every day; -- called also the {canon of
        the Mass}.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fess \Fess\, Fesse \Fesse\, n. [OF. fesse, faisse, F. fasce, fr.
     L. fascia band. See {Fascia}.] (Her.)
     A band drawn horizontally across the center of an escutcheon,
     and containing in breadth the third part of it; one of the
     nine honorable ordinaries.
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     {Fess point} (Her.), the exact center of the escutcheon. See
        {Escutcheon}.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fesse
       n : (heraldry) an ordinary consisting of a broad horizontal band
           across a shield [syn: {fess}]