Cresol Cre"sol (krē"sōl) noun [ From Creosote .] (Chemistry) Any one of three metameric substances, CH ₃ .C ₆ H ₄ .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 noun (Chemistry) Same as Isorcin .

Cress Cress (krĕs) noun ; plural Cresses (krĕs"ĕz). [ Middle English ces , cresse , kers , kerse , Anglo-Saxon cresse , cerse ; akin to Dutch kers , German kresse , Danish karse , Swedish krasse , and possibly also to Old High German chresan to creep.] (Botany) 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" noun [ French 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 noun [ Old French crasset , cresset , sort of lamp or torch; perhaps of Dutch or German origin, and akin to English cruse , French 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 (krĕs"ȳ) adjective Abounding in cresses.

The cressy islets white in flower.
Tennyson.

Crest Crest (krĕst) noun [ Old French creste , French crête , Latin 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.

2. The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet, indicating the rank of the wearer; hence, also, the helmet.

Stooping low his lofty crest .
Sir W. Scott.

And on his head there stood upright
A crest , in token of a knight.
Gower.

3. (Her.) A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually above it, or separately as an ornament for plate, liveries, and the like. It is a relic of the ancient cognizance. See Cognizance , 4.

4. The upper curve of a horse's neck.

Throwing the base thong from his bending crest .
Shak.

5. The ridge or top of a wave.

Like wave with crest of sparkling foam.
Sir W. Scott.

6. The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.

7. The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.

Now the time is come
That France must vail her lofty plumed crest .
Shak.

8. (Architecture) The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.

The finials of gables and pinnacles are sometimes called crests .
Parker.

9. (Engineering) The top line of a slope or embankment.

Crest tile , a tile made to cover the ridge of a roof, fitting upon it like a saddle. -- Interior crest (Fort.) , the highest line of the parapet.

Crest Crest transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Crested ; present participle & verbal noun Cresting .] 1. To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.

His legs bestrid the ocean, his reared arm
Crested the world.
Shak.

Mid groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow.
Wordsworth.

2. To mark with lines or streaks, like, or regarded as like, waving plumes.

Like as the shining sky in summer's night, . . .
Is crested with lines of fiery light.
Spenser.

Crest Crest (krĕst) intransitive verb To form a crest.

Crested Crest"ed (krĕst"ĕd) adjective 1. Having a crest.

But laced crested helm.
Dryden.

2. (Zoology) Having a crest of feathers or hair upon the head. "The crested bird." Dryden.

3. (Bott.) Bearing any elevated appendage like a crest, as an elevated line or ridge, or a tuft. Gray.

Crestfallen Crest"fall`en adjective 1. With hanging head; hence, dispirited; dejected; cowed.

Let it make thee crestfullen ;
Ay, and allay this thy abortive pride.
Shak.

2. Having the crest, or upper part of the neck, hanging to one side; -- said of a horse.

Cresting Crest"ing noun (Architecture) An ornamental finish on the top of a wall or ridge of a roof.

Crestless Crest"less adjective Without a crest or escutcheon; of low birth. " Crestless yeomen." Shak.

Cresylic Cre·syl"ic (kre*sĭl"ĭk) adjective [ From Creosote .] (Chemistry) Pertaining to, or derived from, cresol, creosote, etc.

Cresylic acid . (Chemistry) See Cresol .

Cretaceous Cre·ta"ceous (kre*tā"shŭs) adjective [ Latin cretaceus , from creta chalk. See Crayon .] Having the qualities of chalk; abounding with chalk; chalky; as, cretaceous rocks and formations. See Chalk .

Cretaceous acid , an old name for carbonic acid. -- Cretaceous formation (Geol.) , the series of strata of various kinds, including beds of chalk, green sand, etc., formed in the Cretaceous period; -- called also the chalk formation . See the Diagram under Geology . -- Cretaceous period (Geol.) , the time in the latter part of the Mesozoic age during which the Cretaceous formation was deposited.

Cretaceous Cre·ta"ceous adjective Also Cre*tac"ic (Geol.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, the period of time following the Jurassic and preceding the Eocene.

Cretaceously Cre·ta"ceous·ly adverb In a chalky manner; as chalk.

Cretan Cre"tan (krē"t a n) adjective Pertaining to Crete, or Candia. -- noun A native or inhabitant of Crete or Candia.

Crete Crete (krēt) noun [ Latin Cres , Cretis .] A Cretan

Cretian Cre"tian (krē"sh a n) adjective & noun See Cretan .

Cretic Cre"tic (krē"tĭk) noun [ Latin Creticus (sc. pes foot), Greek Kritiko`s (sc. poy`s foot), prop., a Cretan (metrical) foot.] (Gr. & Lat. Pros.) A poetic foot, composed of one short syllable between two long ones (- ⌣ -). Bentley.

Creticism Cre"ti·cism (-tĭ*sĭz'm) noun Falsehood; lying; cretism.

Cretin Cre"tin (krē"tĭn) noun [ French crétin ; of uncertain origin.] One afflicted with cretinism.

Cretinism Cre"tin·ism (krē"tĭn*ĭz'm) noun [ French crétinisme .] A condition of endemic or inherited idiocy, accompanied by physical degeneracy and deformity (usually with goiter), frequent in certain mountain valleys, esp. of the Alps.

Cretinous Cre"tin·ous (-ŭs) adjective Having the characteristics of a cretin. " Cretinous stupefaction." Ruskin.

Cretism Cre"tism (krē"tĭz'm) noun [ Greek ............... lying, from ............... to act like a Cretan, that is, to lie. "The Cretians are always liars." Titus i. 12. ] A Cretan practice; lying; a falsehood.

Cretonne Cre·tonne" noun [ French, gr. Creton , its first manufacturer.] 1. A strong white fabric with warp of hemp and weft of flax.

2. A fabric with cotton warp and woolen weft.

3. A kind of chintz with a glossy surface.

Cretose Cre"tose adjective [ Latin cretosus , from creta chalk.] Chalky; cretaceous. [ Obsolete] Ash.

Creutzer Creut"zer (kroit"sẽr) noun See Kreutzer .

Creux Creux noun [ French, adj. , hollow, noun , a hollow.] Used in English only in the expression en creux . Thus, engraving en creux is engraving in intaglio, or by sinking or hollowing out the design.

Crevalle Cre`val·le" noun [ Prob. of same origin as cavally . See Cavally .] (Zoology) (a) The cavally or jurel. See Cavally , and Jurel . (b) The pompano ( Trachynotus Carolinus ).

Crevasse Cre`vasse" noun [ French See Crevice .] 1. A deep crevice or fissure, as in embankment; one of the clefts or fissure by which the mass of a glacier is divided.

2. A breach in the levee or embankment of a river, caused by the pressure of the water, as on the lower Mississippi. [ U.S.]

Crevet Crev"et noun [ Confer Creut .] A crucible or melting pot; a cruset. Crabb.

Crevice Crev"ice noun [ Middle English crevace , crevice . F. crevasse , from crever to break, burst, from Latin crepare to crack,break. Confer Craven , Crepitate , Crevasse .] A narrow opening resulting from a split or crack or the separation of a junction; a cleft; a fissure; a rent.

The mouse,
Behind the moldering wainscot, shrieked,
Or from the crevice peered about.
Tennyson.

Crevice Crev"ice transitive verb To crack; to flaw. [ R.] Sir H. Wotton.

Creviced Crev"iced adjective Having a crevice or crevices; as, a creviced structure for storing ears of corn.

Trickling through the creviced rock.
J. Cunningham.

Crevis Crev"is noun (Zoology) The crawfish. [ Prov. Eng.]

Crew Crew (kru) noun (Zoology) The Manx shearwater.

Crew Crew (kru) noun [ From older accrue accession, reënforcement, hence, company, crew; the first syllable being misunderstood as the indefinite article. See Accrue , Crescent .] 1. A company of people associated together; an assemblage; a throng.

There a noble crew
Of lords and ladies stood on every side.
Spenser.

Faithful to whom? to thy rebellious crew ?
Milton.

2. The company of seamen who man a ship, vessel, or at; the company belonging to a vessel or a boat.

» The word crew , in law, is ordinarily used as equivalent to ship's company , including master and other officers. When the master and other officers are excluded, the context always shows it. Story. Burrill.

3. In an extended sense, any small body of men associated for a purpose; a gang; as (Nautical) , the carpenter's crew ; the boatswain's crew .

Syn. -- Company; band; gang; horde; mob; herd; throng; party.

Crew Crew (kru), imperfect of Crow .

Crewel Crew"el noun [ Perh. for clewel , dim. of clew a ball of thread; or confer Dutch krul curl, E. curl . √26.] Worsted yarn,, slackly twisted, used for embroidery.

Crewelwork Crew"el·work` noun Embroidery in crewels, commonly done upon some plain material, such as linen.

Crewet Crew"et noun See Cruet .

Crib Crib noun [ Anglo-Saxon crybb ; akin to Old Saxon kribbja , Dutch krib , kribbe , Danish krybbe , German krippe , and perhaps to Middle High German krebe basket, G, korb , and English rip a sort of wicker basket.]

1. A manger or rack; a feeding place for animals.

The steer lion at one crib shall meet.
Pope.

2. A stall for oxen or other cattle.

Where no oxen are, the crib is clean.
Prov. xiv. 4.

3. A small inclosed bedstead or cot for a child.

4. A box or bin, or similar wooden structure, for storing grain, salt, etc.; as, a crib for corn or oats.

5. A hovel; a hut; a cottage.

Why rather, Sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs , . . .
Than in the perfumed chambers of the great?
Shak.

6. (Mining) A structure or frame of timber for a foundation, or for supporting a roof, or for lining a shaft.

7. A structure of logs to be anchored with stones; -- used for docks, pier, dams, etc.

8. A small raft of timber. [ Canada]

9. A small theft; anything purloined; a plagiarism; hence, a translation or key, etc., to aid a student in preparing or reciting his lessons. [ Colloq.]

The Latin version technically called a crib .
Ld. Lytton.

Occasional perusal of the Pagan writers, assisted by a crib .
Wilkie Collins.

10. A miner's luncheon. [ Cant] Raymond.

11. (Card Playing) The discarded cards which the dealer can use in scoring points in cribbage.

Crib Crib transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Cribbed (krĭbd); present participle & verbal noun Cribbing .] 1. To shut up or confine in a narrow habitation; to cage; to cramp.

If only the vital energy be not cribbed or cramped.
I. Taylor.

Now I am cabin'd, cribbed , confined.
Shak.

2. To pilfer or purloin; hence, to steal from an author; to appropriate; to plagiarize; as, to crib a line from Milton. [ Colloq.]

Child, being fond of toys, cribbed the necklace.
Dickens.

Crib Crib intransitive verb 1. To crowd together, or to be confined, as in a crib or in narrow accommodations. [ R.]

Who sought to make . . . bishops to crib in a Presbyterian trundle bed.
Gauden.

2. To make notes for dishonest use in recitation or examination. [ College Cant]

3. To seize the manger or other solid object with the teeth and draw in wind; -- said of a horse.

Crib-biting Crib"-bit`ing noun Same as Cribbing , 4.

Cribbage Crib"bage noun [ From Crib , transitive verb , 2.] A game of cards, played by two or four persons, in which there is a crib. (See Crib , 11.) It is characterized by a great variety of chances.

A man's fancy would be summed up in cribbage .
John Hall.

Cribbage board , a board with holes and pegs, used by cribbage players to score their game.

Cribber Crib"ber (kr?b"?r), Crib"-bit`er (-b?t"?r) , noun A horse that has the habit of cribbing.

Cribbing Crib"bing noun 1. The act of inclosing or confining in a crib or in close quarters.

2. Purloining; stealing; plagiarizing. [ Colloq.]

3. (Mining) A framework of timbers and plank backing for a shaft lining, to prevent caving, percolation of water, etc.

4. A vicious habit of a horse; crib- biting. The horse lays hold of the crib or manger with his teeth and draws air into the stomach with a grunting sound.

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