Cinquefoil. a common bearing in Heraldry, representing a flower with five petals borne full-faced and without a stalk. If pierced—i.e. perforated in the centre, it should be so blazoned.
in Heraldry.
in Architecture.
Gules, a cinquefoil pierced ermine, was the coat of the old earls of Leicester; and gules, three cinquefoils argent (sometimes ermine), that of the house of Hamilton in Scotland.—Cinquefoil, in Architecture, is an ornamental foliation in five compartments, used in the tracery of windows, panellings, and the like. The cinquefoil is often represented in a circular form, the spaces between points or cusps representing the five leaves, as in the accompanying illustration.