escutcheon

Noun

escutcheon (plural escutcheons)

1. The shield on which a coat of arms is displayed, or, by extension, the coat of arms itself.
   • Meronyms: field, charge, emblem
   • He dies: his very coffin is comfortable; the very vault of his ancestors is sheltered; a funeral sermon is preached in his honour; and escutcheon and marble tablet do their best to preserve his memory.1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “The Fête at Sir Robert Walpole’s”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 33

   Synonyms:

   shield

2. A small shield used to charge a larger one.
3. The pattern of distribution of hair upon the pubic mound.
   • The hair becomes darker and coarser during pubic hair stage 3, spreading over the pubic symphysis with gradual progression to a full female escutcheon.2013, Jerome F. Strauss III, Robert L. Barbieri, Yen & Jaffe's Reproductive Endocrinology (page 379)
4. A marking upon the back of a cow's udder and the space above it (the perineum), formed by the hair growing upward or outward instead of downward. It was once taken as an index of milking qualities.
   • The milk-mirror, or escutcheon, is formed by the hair above the udder, extending upwards between the thighs, […]1867, Charles Louis Flint, Milch cows and dairy farming

   Synonyms:

   milk mirror

5. The part of a ship's stern where its name is displayed.
6. A decorative or protective plate or bezel designed to fill the gap between a switch, pipe, valve, control knob, etc., and the surface from which it protrudes.
7. The insignia around a doorknob's exterior hardware or a door lock's cosmetic plate.
8. The depression behind the beak of certain bivalves; the ligamental area.