> as lemmas

a1586 Lindsay MS f. 43, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue (at cited word) Ane croce voide ane croce patte ane croce potente.

1660 Guillim's Display of Heraldrie (ed. 4) ii. vii. 82 He bears..a Crosse potent.

1680 G. Mackenzie Sci. Herauldry xvi. 43 It were better to say, a Cross crouch-wise, than to say, a Cross potent, or potence: For a potence signifies a crouch in the French, but potent and potence are the same terms: Nor could the French understand their own terms in those Books.

1725 J. Coats New Dict. Heraldry (rev. ed.) Potent,..a Cross Potent, by reason of the Resemblance its Extremities bear to the Head of a Crutch.

1766–87 M. A. Porny Elem. Heraldry (ed. 4) Gloss. Potent, a...said of a Cross terminating like a T, at its upper extremities.

1869 Times 6 Sept. 4/4 We..can understand the natural desire of those who are even remotely connected with such parents to enjoy the reflected lustre of..their cross potent, pattée, or crosslet.

1894 H. Gough & J. Parker Gloss. Terms Heraldry (new ed.) at Cross Cross potent, so called because its arms terminate in potents,..or like crutches.

1894 H. Gough & J. Parker Gloss. Terms Heraldry (new ed.) Potent is also applied to the edge of an ordinary or to a line of division, though the latter but rarely.

1896 Times 11 Apr. 10/1 The great church was not meant only for this scanty band of 13 black-robed brethren who still wear on their gowns the silver ‘cross potent’.

1940 T. H. White Ill-made Knight iii. 21 One gay sail with a Cross Potent on it, and an enormous streamer floating from the top of the mast.

1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. 47 222 Crois potent..is another instance of the earliest attestation of an heraldic term, though the charge itself appears in a number of thirteenth-century painted rolls featuring the arms of Jerusalem.

2001 Treasure Hunting Feb. 23/2 This particular brooch is an example of the trefoil-headed class, but small-long brooches are also found with cross-pattee, cross-potent, and square heads.