CHEVRON, or CHEVERON, in heraldry, one of the honourable ordinaries of a shield, representing two rafters of an house, joined together as they ought to stand; it was anciently the form of the priestesses head attire: some say, it is a symbol of protection; others, of constancy; others, that it represents knights spears, &c. It contains the fifth part of the field, and is figured as in Plate LV. fig. 2.
A chevron is said to be abased, when its point does not approach the head of the chief, nor reach farther than the middle of the coat; mutilated, when it does not touch the extremes of the coat; cloven, when the upper pieces are taken off, so that the pieces only touch at one of the angles; broken, when one branch is separated into two pieces; couched, when the point is turned towards one side of the escutcheon; divided, when the branches are of several metals, or when metal is opposed to colour; inverted, when the point is turned towards the point of the coat, and its branches towards the chief.