Fess

Pronunciation

• IPA: /fÉ›s/Rhymes: -É›s

From confess, by shortening

Full definition of fess

Verb

1. To confess; to admit.

Derived terms

• fess up

From Old French fesse, an alteration of faisse, from Latin fascia

Noun

1. (heraldiccharge) A horizontal band across the middle of the shield.
• 1892, Arthur Conan Doyle, ‘The Adventure of the Noble Bachelor’, Norton 2005 p.294:Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral—Hum! Arms: Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable.
• 2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate 2010, p. 420:The space where the arms of Wolsey used to be is being repainted with his own newly granted arms: azure, on a fess between three lions rampant or, a rose gules, barbed vert, between two Cornish choughs proper.