Definition of "debased"

8), Azure, a thistle ensigned with an Imperial Crown, all proper; and its use is pretty frequent in the somewhat debased heraldry of the close of the last century and the beginning of the present.

1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 335

58,) and also a new crest, viz. upon a wreath argent and vert, a demi-dragon erased gules P, gorged about the loins with a ducal coronet ... 59,) are an admirable specimen of the complex and debased heraldry of the day. 1515.

1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress

The badge itself is a remarkable medley of objects, and another good example of the debased heraldry of Tudor days. It represents a castle with the crowned hawthorn tree of the Tudors growing in the lower ward behind the principal […]

1912, Edward Earle Dorling, Leopards of England, and Other Papers on Heraldry, page 54

DEBASED HERALDRY. Of debased heraldry there is no lack of examples, and a few are ancient. Thomas de Insula, bishop of Ely (1345-61), bore gules, three bezants, on each a crowned king, robed sable, doubled ermine, sustaining […]

1892, The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature ; the R.S. Peale Reprint, with New Maps and Original American Articles, page 704