Fleur-de-lis, a heraldic device representing very imperfectly, as Littre says, three flowers of the white lily (Lilium) joined together; though often said to be a representation of the white iris, which is on that hypothesis called Flower-de-luce (q.v.). The Fleur-de-lis, or Fleur-de-lys, came to be the arms of the Bourbons and of France (see FLAG). The three heads of the fleur-de-lis have been said to Fleur-de-lis, typify the Trinity. See PEWS.
