In heraldry, describing an animal or creature that faces directly toward the viewer with both eyes visible.
From French 'gardant,' present participle of 'garder' (to guard), originally meaning 'guarding' or 'watching.' In heraldry, the term emerged to describe creatures in a watchful, forward-facing position.
Medieval heralds created a whole vocabulary just to describe which way animals looked on shields—'gardant' (straight ahead), 'passant' (walking), 'rampant' (rearing up). It's like they invented emoji 600 years before we did!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.