Thelines inheraldry used todivide andvaryfields andcharges are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the use of lines as charges, and to distinguish these shapes from actual charges, such as "a mount [or triple mount] in base," or, particularly inGerman heraldry, different kinds of embattled from castle walls.

InScotland, varied lines of partition are often used to modify abordure (or sometimes anotherordinary) to difference the arms of acadet from the chief of the house.^[1]

An ordinaryindented is bounded by small zigzags like atriangle wave or the teeth of asaw, with peaks on one side matching peaks on the other. An ordinarydancetty is similar, but with peaks matching troughs, so that the width is constant; it also typically has fewer points thanindented. In early armory these were not distinguished. In the arms of the55th Electronic Combat Group of theUnited States Air Force the indented is "edged wider on the back angle (sinister) than on the face (dexter) of each angle".^[2]

Dentilly is a modern invention, similar toindented, but with one of the sides of the points perpendicular and the other angled, as in asawtooth wave.^{[citation needed]}

Rayonné (alsorayonne,rayonny; from Frenchrayonner) may be considered a variant of indented, but with wavy instead of straight lines, as in the conventional representation of rays of the sun.Rayonne palewise appears in the arms of the 172d Support Battalion of the United States Army.^[3] A chief enarched rayonné on a gold field appears in the arms ofSechelt, British Columbia, forming the appearance of a sun.^[4]

The arms of the Worshipful Company of Security Professionals contain an example ofindented acute, a form of indented with higher peaks.^[5]

The number of peaks in indented is almost never specified, but an exception is the arms of Arthur D. Stairs:Per bend sinister indented of six steps Gules and Sable, and Westville, Natal, South Africa bearsSable, issuant from behind a fence of spears in base Argent, a fig tree in leaf Or; on a chief indented of four points to base, also Or, three lion's faces Sable.^{[citation needed]}

In South Africa there are a number of examples ofdancetty inverted. While the number of peaks in dancetty are three unless otherwise specified, the arms of Wagland showdancetty of two points^[6] and the arms of Baz Manning show a chief "dancetty of two full points upwards".^[7] The arms of the Matroosberg Transitional Representative Council in South Africa give an example ofdancetty… in the shape of a letter W. The arms of the French department ofCôtes d'Armor showémanché, which would be equivalent to the Englishper fess dancetty of two full points upwards. The arms ofBaron Griffiths of Fforestfach arePaly of four Vert and Argent per fess enhanced indented of two points upwards each point double barbed throughout issuing in base a pile double barbed throughout all counterchanged.^[8] The arms of Alaric John Martin Woodrow show an example ofbarry dancetty each point double barbed, used to represent a line of fir trees as a play on the surname.^[9] The arms of the Free State inSouth Africa show "a chief dancetty, the peaks terminating in merlons",^[10] and so might be called a combination of dancetty and embattled; a similar hybrid can be seen in the arms of the Agricultural Gymnasium. Hoerskool Hangklip provide an example ofdancetty with points flattened, and Blouberg ofdancetty the peaks couped.^[11] It is difficult to know whether to characterise the "wall-like extremity with five merlons and four embrasures" in the arms of theKurgan Oblast in Russia as a divided field or a charge.[1]

The arms of Ernest John Altobello show a chevron with the upper edgegrady (this is identical in appearance to indented) "and ensigned of a tower Argent".

A linewavy (also calledundy)^[12] is asine wave, often used to represent water; a linenebuly is similar but with more exaggeratedmeanders, representing clouds. There are confusing, ambiguous and non-standard uses ofa wavy in the military heraldry of the United States to refer to irregularly wavy lines.^[13]

The wavy chief in the arms of Lord Nelson was blazoned asundulated.^[14]

The field of the arms of the 40th Finance Battalion of the United States Army is blazonedper fess wavy (in the manner of aTaeguk).^[15]

Inwavy crested the waves appear like pointed breakers.^[16]The arms of James Hill show an example of barruletswavy crested to the sinister on the upper edge.^[17]The chief in the arms of Professor S.W. Haines iswavy of one crest and depressed in the centre of one point.^[18]

There are examples of even greater complexity and specificity in thewavy line, such as the arms of "Baron Nolan ... [which include] three 'bars wavy couped composed of two troughs and a wave invected of one point on the upper edge and engrailed of one point on the lower edge'".^[19]

Specification of the number of "undulations" in nebuly can be seen by Jochen Wilke's roundel, with ten.^[20] (It is uncommon for lines of partition to modify a charge other than an ordinary.)

The Blount family of Worcestershire, England, whose members held the titles ofBaron Mountjoy and twobaronetcies, boreBarry nebuly of six or and sable.Nebuly lines also appear in the arms of the formerborough councils ofFleetwood (Lancashire) andHyde (Cheshire).

These lines consist of a series of circular arcs curving in the same direction, meeting at angles, forming points outward (engrailed) or inward (invected). When these terms are applied to a partition rather than to an ordinary, the first part of the field is the "interior".

The arms ofLiverpool Hope University includea Cross engrailed of one point on each limb.^[21] TheFlag of Flintshire isArgent a cross engrailed sable between four Cornish choughs proper.

The arms of the Pretoria Philatelic Society show achief engrailed and couped, having the appearance of the edge of aperforatedpostage stamp. The arms of Kutlwanong Dorp in South Africa provide an example both of the specification of the number of lobes in invected, and those lobes beingtrefly.^[22]

A lineembattled is asquare wave, representing thebattlements of a castle.

When a fess is embattled, only the topmost edge is altered (as in the arms ofMuri bei Bern). If both edges are to be embattled, the termembattled-counter-embattled (orcounter-embattled, as in the arms of Sir Cecil Denniston Burney) is used. In this case the lines are parallel. If gaps face gaps, the termbretessé is used. There is at least one emblazonment suggesting that the orle is only embattled on its outer edge.

Italian armory has a variant,Ghibelline battlement, with notched merlons.

In a lineraguly the extensions are oblique rather than orthogonal, like the stumps of limbs protruding from a tree-trunk.

Dovetailed is as in carpentry. Unlike embattled, gaps face gaps.

Potenty may be considered a variant in which the points are extended toT-shapes ("potent" means a crutch).

A lineembattled grady^[23] orbattled embattled^[24] consists of series of two or three steps, as if eachmerlon has a smaller merlon atop it. Parker's glossary says thatdouble-embattled may be the same as this.

The arms ofSchellenberg inLiechtenstein provide an example of embattled "with three battlements".^[25] Thebordure in the arms ofBoissy l'Aillerie, inVal d'Oise,France, has nine battlements (the bordure is also masoned and contains door-like openings).

A very unusual occurrence of embattled occurs in the arms of the 136th Military Police Battalion of the United States Army:Sable, a fesse enhanced and embattled Or, overall a magnifying glass palewise rim Argent (Silver Gray), the glass surmounting and enlarging the middle crenel between two merlons, the handle Gules edged of the second bearing a mullet Argent.^[26]

The arms ofBaron Kirkwood show two chevronelsround embattled (the merlons are rounded rather than squares). There are also examples ofembattled pointed^[11] andembattled in the form of mine dumps.

James Parker cites the arms of Christopher Draisfield: "Gules, a chevron raguly of two bastons couped at the top argent."

The arms of Zodwa Special School for Severely Mentally Handicapped Children showa chevron dovetailed, the peak ensigned with a potent issuant.

Some examples also exist ofurdy, where the line is in the shapes of the upside-down and rightside-up "shields" ofvair (this is to be distinguished fromcouped urdy, in which the couping takes a pointed form^[27]). The arms of Winfried Paul Reinhold Steinhagen arePer chevron, the peak in the form of a merlon round urdy of four, Gules and Or, in chief a horse forcene and a goat clymant respecting one another, Argent, and in base a bull's head Sable armed Argent; a chief per fess in the form of a wall with three watchtowers, Azure and Argent, the latter charged with a strand of barbed wire throughout, Sable. The "unusual, if not unique" arms of Lourens Du Toit arePer fess of three pallets urdy Sable and Or.^[28]

The arms of theRoyal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons^[29] have a bordure emblazoned "dentate", although this appears to be quite similar to dovetailed.

A lineembowed consists of a single arch.

A linenowy contains a semicircular protuberance in the middle. A line with an angular protuberance in the middle, like a battlement, is calledescartelly.^[12]

The arms of Laerskool Bosveld in South Africa have a fieldPer chevron embowed trefly, Azure and Argent.

The arms of Léopold-Henri Amyot[2] show "per fess ogivy"; this is based on theogive orpointed arch.

Chiefs, fesses and palar dividing lines are sometimes seenarched anddouble-arched (and there is an example of triple-arched), though there is some debate as to whether or not these are lines of partition. That arched can be combined with partition lines can be seen from thearms ofSouth Lanarkshire inScotland. Arched can also bereversed.

The rare linebevilled modifies the bendlets in the arms of Thomas Roy Barnes^[30] and the pairle in the arms ofRovaniemi, Finland. This lightning-bolt type of line with one zigzag is to be distinguished fromangled, in which the line takes a pair of 90° turns before continuing parallel to and in the same direction as the old line. There is a South African example ofbevilled to sinister, and a benddouble bevilled can be seen in the arms of Philip Kushlick School.

A linetrefly shows protuberances in the form of trefoils.

The arms of Saint Paul's Cathedral inRegina, Saskatchewan contain a bordureits inner line looping in foils of poplar of the field within the bordure at each angle and at regular intervals between.^[31]

The arms of Carmichael show a fess "wreathy", which may or may not be strictly speaking a line of partition, but does modify the fess; the coat is not blazoned as a "wreath in fess". James Parker calls this "tortilly".

The 20th century saw some innovations in lines of partition.Erablé, a series of alternating upright and inverted maple leaves, is a typicallyCanadian line of partition, though theCollege of Arms in London has used it in a few grants (but compare the crossnowy erablé in the arms of Katherina Fahlman Selinger Schaaf.^[32] AFinnish line of partition, invented by Kaj Cajander and calledkuusikoro, which is calledfir-tree topped in Britain, and which theCanadian Heraldic Authority coined the termsapiné to blazon, resembles fir trees; in the arms ofGuy Selvester^[33] this is calledsapinage. A line resembling fir twigs, and so called in British blazon, is calledsapinagé in Canada (English and French),^[34] andhavukoro in Finland.^[35] Other 20th-century examples of lines, or things akin to lines, include the 1990 grant toAlbersdorf-Prebuch in Austria, in which the upper line of the fess takes the form offruit, the bottom ofvine-leaves. (It is debatable what the distinction is between such lines, and examples such as the arms ofBierbaum am Auersbach,^[36] a town inStyria, in which three pears grow from apall.)

The South AfricanBureau of Heraldry has developed the line of partitionserpentine (which has also been calledondoyant), which is rather like wavy, but with only one "wave", one complete cycle of a sine wave; the serpentine in the arms of the Mtubatuba Primary School is defined as "dexter to chief and sinister to base". (Similar is the Germanim Schlangenschnitt (snake-wise).) It has also developed the uniquely South-African lines of division (which can also form the ends of a charge)nowy of a Cape Town gable (now called justnowy gabled),^[35][37] andnowy of an Indian cupola. Similarly, the fess line in the arms of the Council for Social and Associated Workers isnowy of a trimount inverted, the fess in the arms of Mossel Bay isnowy of two Karoo gable houses, the chief in the arms of the Lenasia South-East Management Committee isnowy of an Indian cupola, the chief in the arms of the Genealogical Society of South Africa isdouble nowy gably and that of Frederick Brownell isgably of three.^[38] The arms of the Reyneke Bond (i.e. Reyneke Family Association) arePer fess, in each flank double nowy fitchy to base, Azure and Or, a lion rampant per fess of the second and Gules, a chief Or. The plain chief identifies these as the arms of a family association. The arms of Itsokolele, South Africa includea chief double fitchy inverted.

Broad fitchy couped is a line of South-African origin similar in appearance to a mine-dump or escartelly with sloping sides.^[11]

Chevrons can be topped with a fleur-de-lys, and ordinaries with non-straight edges (particularly if they are dancetty or engrailed) can have the points topped with demi fleurs-de-lys. It has sometimes been said that in some reference works flory-counter-flory (and flory) is treated like a line of partition, even though strictly speaking it is not – though it has been used for centuries that way in the royal arms of Scotland blazoning the double tressure (Public Register of Arms, Lyon Court, Edinburgh) and used by the College of arms in blazoning coats like that of Sutherland of Dunstanburgh Castle (Gules, a chevron flory-counterflory between in chief three mullets and in base a lymphad all or) and is used by the South African Bureau of Heraldry blazoning the coat of Huis Tankotie of the University of Pretoria (Per fess, flory counter-flory, Argent and Azure, in base within the flower an annulet Sable; a bordure counterchanged) and Emmanuel-Opleidingsentrum in the South African Bureau of Heraldry's online database. (Flory is sometimes varied with other shapes than the fleur-de-lys, when it is blazoned asflory of.^[39])

A vague and unhelpful blazon of the 27th Air Division of theUnited States Air Force provides for a "bordure of distinctive outline".^[40]

Each shield isPer fess _______ argent and gules, but some of these lines have no common English name.

• 
  invected
• 
  engrailed
• 
  embattled
• 
  wavy orundy
• 
  nebuly
• 
  fir-tree topped, a recent Finnish innovation (also known asSapiné in Canada)^[41]
• 
  fir-twigged, a recent Finnish innovation (also known asSapinagé in Canada)^[42]
• 
  indented as it is commonly shown
• 
  dancetty, limited to three indentations
• 
  indented very much deeper than is usual
• 
  enarched
• 
  per chevron
• 
  trefly-counter-trefly
• 
  embattled in crosses, Finnish heraldry
• 
  potenty
• 
  palissado, Finnish heraldry^[43]
• 
  bastionné, Finnish heraldry^[44]
• 
  spaded^[45]
• 
  lilyous, Finnish heraldry
• 
  indented pommetty
• 
  rayonny
• 
  embattled grady
• 
  rayonny (variant)
• 
  dovetailed
• 
  bevilled
• 
  thorny, Finnish heraldry
• 
  raguly
• 
  nebuly
• 
  rayonné
• 
  urdy
• 
  angled
• 
  épiné (acacia thorned), also known asdovetailed indented
• 
  Érablé, Canadian heraldry^[46]

^[47]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLines in heraldry.

• Variations of ordinaries

• Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 105th edition.

• Media related toLines in heraldry at Wikimedia Commons

• Heraldry

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from August 2011
• Articles containing Finnish-language text
• Articles containing German-language text
• Commons category link is on Wikidata