What does "king-of-arms" mean?

One of the three chief heralds of the College of Arms, designated as Garter (Principal King of Arms), Clarenceux (for England south of the Trent and Wales), and Norroy & Ulster (for England north of the Trent and Northern Ireland).

King-of-arms

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
One of the three chief heralds of the College of Arms, designated as Garter (Principal King of Arms), Clarenceux (for England south of the Trent and Wales), and Norroy & Ulster (for England north of the Trent and Northern Ireland).
"In April 1504 the longstanding Garter king-of-arms John Writhe died."

Example

More examples

"In April 1504 the longstanding Garter king-of-arms John Writhe died."

Etymology

From Middle English King of armes, kyng of armes.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.