Chapter Creeper to Crescentic of C by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

once such colonies, esp. a person of French or Spanish descent, who is a native inhabitant of Louisiana, or one of the States adjoining, bordering on the Gulf of of Mexico.

"The term creole negro is employed in the English West Indies to distinguish the negroes born there from the Africans imported during the time of the slave trade. The application of this term to the colored people has led to an idea common in some parts of the United States, though wholly unfounded, that it implies an admixture greater or less of African blood." R. Hildreth.

"The title [Creole] did not first belong to the descendants of Spanish, but of French, settlers, But such a meaning implied a certain excellence of origin, and so came early to include any native of French or Spanish descent by either parent, whose nonalliance with the slave race entitled him to social rank. Later, the term was adopted by, not conceded to, the natives of mixed blood, and is still so used among themselves. . . . Besides French and Spanish, there are even, for convenience of speech, 'colored' Creoles; but there are no Italian, or Sicilian, nor any English, Scotch, Irish, or 'Yankee' Creoles, unless of parentage married into, and themselves thoroughly proselyted in, Creole society." G. W. Cable.

Creole
(Cre"ole) a. Of or pertaining to a Creole or the Creoles.

In New Orleans the word Creole is applied to any product, or variety of manufacture, peculiar to Louisiana; as, Creole ponies, chickens, cows, shoes, eggs, wagons, baskets, etc.

Creolean
(Cre*o"le*an Cre*o"li*an) , a. Pertaining to, or characteristic of, the Creoles. — n. A Creole.

Creosol
(Cre"o*sol) n. [Cresote + phenol.] (Chem.) A colorless liquid resembling phenol or carbolic acid, homologous with pyrocatechin, and obtained from beechwood tar and gum guaiacum. [Written also creasol.]

Creosote
(Cre"o*sote) n. [Gr. gen. flesh + to preserve.] (Chem.) Wood-tar oil; an oily antiseptic liquid, of a burning smoky taste, colorless when pure, but usually colored yellow or brown by impurity or exposure. It is a complex mixture of various phenols and their ethers, and is obtained by the distillation of wood tar, especially that of beechwood.

It is remarkable as an antiseptic and deodorizer in the preservation of wood, flesh, etc., and in the prevention of putrefaction; but it is a poor germicide, and in this respect has been overrated. Smoked meat, as ham, owes its preservation and taste to a small quantity of creosote absorbed from the smoke to which it is exposed. Carbolic acid is phenol proper, while creosote is a mixture of several phenols.

Coal-tar creosote (Chem.), a colorless or yellow, oily liquid, obtained in the distillation of coal tar, and resembling wood-tar oil, or creosote proper, in composition and properties.

Creosote
(Cre"o*sote), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Creosoted (-s?"t?d); p. pr. & vb. n. Creosoting.] To saturate or impregnate with creosote, as timber, for the prevention of decay.

Crepance
(Cre"pance Cre"pane) n. [Cf. L. crepare to crack.] (Far.) An injury in a horse's leg, caused by the shoe of one hind foot striking and cutting the other leg. It sometimes forms an ulcer.

Crêpe
(||Crêpe) n. Same as Crape.

Crepitant
(Crep"i*tant) a. [See Crepitate.] Having a crackling sound; crackling; rattling.

Crepitant rale (Med.), a peculiar crackling sound audible with inspiration in pneumonia and other lung disease.

Crepitate
(Crep"i*tate) v. i. [imp. & p. p. Crepitated (- t`td); p. pr. & vb. n. Crepitating ] [L. crepitatus, p. p. of crepitare to crackle, v. intensive of crepare to crack. Cf. Crevice.] To make a series of small, sharp, rapidly repeated explosions or sounds, as salt in fire; to crackle; to snap.