in heraldry; a four-cornered figure, resembling a pane of glass in old carvings. See HERALDRY, p. 3597, col. 1. Tho' all heralds agree, that single ladies are to place their arms on lozenges, yet they differ with respect to the causes that gave rise to it. Plutarch says, in the life of Theseus, that in Megara, an ancient town of Greece, the tomb-stones, under which the bodies of the Amazons lay, were shaped after that form; which some conjecture to be the cause why ladies have their arms on lozenges. S. Petra Sancta will have this shield to represent a cushion, whereupon women used to sit and spin, or do other housewifery. Sir J. Ferne thinks it is formed from the shield called tefera, which the Romans finding unfit for war, did allow to women to place their ensigns upon, with one of its angles always uppermost.

Lozenges, among jewellers, are common to brilliant and rose diamonds. In brilliants, they are formed by the meeting of the skill and star facets on the bezel; in the latter, by the meeting of the facets in the horizontal ribs of the crown. See FACETS.