bezant

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. See solidus.
2. n. Architecture A flat disk used as an ornament.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A gold coin (the proper name of which was solidus) issued by the emperors at Constantinople in the middle ages. Bezants had a wide circulation in Europe till the fall of the Eastern Empire, more especially during the period from about A. D. 800 to the middle of the thirteenth century, when European countries, except Spain, had no gold currencies of their own. Also called byzant, byzantine.
2. n. In heraldry, a small circle or; a gold roundel. It is a common bearing, and is supposed to have originated from the coins of Constantinople, assumed as bearings by crusaders.
3. n. Also spelled besant.

Wiktionary

1. n. history A coin made of gold or silver, minted at Byzantium and used in currency throughout mediaeval Europe.
2. n. heraldry The heraldic representation of a gold coin.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A gold coin of Byzantium or Constantinople, varying in weight and value, usually (those current in England) between a sovereign and a half sovereign. There were also white or silver bezants.
2. n. (Her.) A circle in or, i. e., gold, representing the gold coin called bezant.
3. n. A decoration of a flat surface, as of a band or belt, representing circular disks lapping one upon another.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a gold coin of the Byzantine Empire; widely circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages