Crescentwise
(Cres"cent*wise`) adv. In the form of a crescent; like a crescent. Tennyson.
Crescive
(Cres"cive) a. [L. crescere to increase.] Increasing; growing. [R.]
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.
Shak.
Cresol
(Cre"sol) n. [From Creosote.] (Chem.) Any one of three metameric substances, CH3.C6H4.OH,
homologous with and resembling phenol. They are obtained from coal tar and wood tar, and are colorless,
oily liquids or solids. [Called also cresylic acid.]
Cresorcin
(Cre*sor"cin) n. (Chem.) Same as Isorcin.
Cress
(Cress) n.; pl. Cresses [OE. ces, cresse, kers, kerse, AS. cresse, cerse; akin to D. kers,
G. kresse, Dan. karse, Sw. krasse, and possibly also to OHG. chresan to creep.] (Bot.) A plant
of various species, chiefly cruciferous. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, and are used as a
salad and antiscorbutic.
The garden cress, called also peppergrass, is the Lepidium sativum; the water cress is the Nasturtium
officinale. Various other plants are sometimes called cresses.
To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread.
Goldsmith.
Bitter cress.
See under Bitter. — Not worth a cress, or "not worth a kers." a common old proverb,
now turned into the meaningless "not worth a curse." Skeat.
Cresselle
(Cres*selle") n. [F. crécelle rattle.] (Eccl.) A wooden rattle sometimes used as a substitute
for a bell, in the Roman Catholic church, during the latter part of Holy Week, or the last week of Lent.
Cresset
(Cres"set) n. [OF. crasset, cresset, sort of lamp or torch; perh. of Dutch or German origin, and
akin to E. cruse, F. creuset crucible, E. crucible.]
1. An open frame or basket of iron, filled with combustible material, to be burned as a beacon; an open
lamp or firrepan carried on a pole in nocturnal processions.
Starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltus.
Milton.
As a cresset true that darts its length
Of beamy luster from a tower of strength.
Wordsworth.
2. (Coopering) A small furnace or iron cage to hold fire for charring the inside of a cask, and making
the staves flexible. Knight.
Cressy
(Cress"y) a. Abounding in cresses.
The cressy islets white in flower.
Tennyson.
Crest
(Crest) n. [OF. creste, F. crête, L. crista.]
1. A tuft, or other excrescence or natural ornament, growing on an animal's head; the comb of a cock; the
swelling on the head of a serpent; the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc. Darwin.
[Attack] his rising crest, and drive the serpent back.
C. Pitt.