Heads in heraldry

[3] Erasure in blazon, the language of heraldry, is the tearing off of part of a charge, leaving a jagged edge of it remaining.

In blazons the term is most often found in its adjectival form, erased, and is usually applied to animate charges, most often heads or other body parts.

[4] John Craig's dictionary of 1854 says: In Heraldry, anything is said to be erased which appears forcibly torn off, leaving the edges jagged and uneven.

[5]When a tree or other plant is shown uprooted, with the bare roots showing, it is called eradicated.

For instance, with the head of a bear, whether couped or erased, in English heraldry the separation is done horizontally under the neck, which is not lost, whereas in Scottish heraldry the usual practice is for the head to be separated from the body vertically, without keeping the neck attached to it.