▪ I. † creant, a.1 Obs.
Also creaunt.
[In form, a. OF. creant believing, trusting, giving oneself up, pr. pple. of creire:—L. crēdĕre to believe. But as OF. had only recréant in this sense, it is possible that creant is an abbreviated form of that word. Cf. craven.]
1. In phrases to yield oneself creant, to cry (or say) creant: To acknowledge oneself vanquished; to surrender oneself to an antagonist.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 288 And leið hire sulf aduneward, and buhð him ase he bit, and zeieð creaunt, creaunt, ase swowinde. c 1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 478 (1883) Ar ich wald creaunt ȝeld me Ich hadde leuer an-hanged be. c 1325 Coer de L. 5319 On knees he fel doun, and cryde Creaunt, For Mahoun and Termagaunt. But Sere Fouk wolde nought soo; The hedde he smot the body froo. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xii. 193 Þe thef..ȝelte hym creaunt to cryst on þe crosse and knewleched hym gulty. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶624 He that despeireth hym is lyke the cowarde Champion recreaunt that seith creant with oute nede. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxliii, The knight overcome the clerk and made hym yelde hym creaunt of his false impechement. |
2. Believing, orthodox. nonce-use.
| 1833 Carlyle Cagliostro Misc. Ess. (1888) V. 124 The lives of all Eminent Persons, miscreant or creant. |
▪ II. creant, a.2 rare.
(ˈkriːənt)
[ad. F. créant, or L. creānt-em creating, f. creāre.]
Creating, creative.
| 1844 Mrs. Browning Drama of Exile 24 We Sprang very beauteous from the creant Word. |