PURPURE, or PURPLE, in heraldry, according to some, is one of the five colours of armories, compounded of gules and azure, bordering on violet, and, according to others, of a great deal of red and a little black. But it was excluded by the ancient heralds as only an imperfect colour. In the coats of noblemen it is called amethyst; and in those of princes, mercury. It is represented in engraving, by diagonal lines drawn from the sinister chief to the dexter base points. See Plate CXLVII. fig. 3.