▪ I. † cream, creme, n.1 Obs. or Hist.
Forms: 4–6 creme, 4–5 creyme, crayme, 4–6 crem, 5–7 creame, 5 creym, 6 kreme, chreame, 6–7 cream.
[ME. creme, a. OF. cresme, later creme masc., now chrême = Pr. cresma fem.:—L. chrisma: see chrism and next word. In ME. the form crisme was used alongside of this; and since the 16th c. chrism has become the accepted form.]
The consecrated oil used in anointing; = chrism.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 9495 Holy bapteme, Houe of watyr, and noytede wyþ creme. c 1315 Shoreham 13 That hi beethe eke atte fount Mid oylle and creyme alyned. 1340 Ayenb. 93 Huanne he is ysmered myd þise holy crayme. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 71 Creme scholde be blissede in the churche every yere. Ibid. VI. 159 The noyntynge of holy creame [sacri chrismatis, Trevisa crisme]. 1502 Arnolde Chron. (1811) 273 Item whether the kreme and oyle be newe, and euery yere newe halowyd. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes 675 A box of creame and oyle. 1563 Becon Reliques of Rome Wks. 383 The byshop must annoynt them with chrisme, commonly called, creame. a 1602 W. Perkins Cases Consc. (1619) 320 Popish consecration of salt, creame..and such like. 1642 J. Taylor (Water P.) Mad Fashions, To Baptize with Cream, with Salt and Spittle. 1883 tr. Campan's Mary Antoinette 160 Some consecrated oil, called holy cream. |
b. Comb. cream-,
creme-box,
creme-stock, a receptacle for the chrism, a chrismatory.
| 1450 in Maitland Club Misc. III. 203 Ane crem stok of siluer. 1565 in Peacock Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866) 106 Item one creme box broken and defaced. |
▪ II. cream, n.2 (
kriːm)
Forms: 4
creym(e,
creem,
craym, 5
creme,
kreme, 5–6
crayme, 6–7
creame, 7–
cream.
[ME. creme, creem, creyme, a. F. crème, in OF. cresme fem., Pr. cresma, a popular application of cresme chrism (see prec.), with change of gender after L. words in a. Both words were in
OF. cresme, later
creme; according to Beza, they were in 16th c. distinguished in pronunciation as
le crême,
la créme; they are now distinguished in spelling as
le chrême,
la crème, but pronounced identically
crêm'. (By etymological conjecture
crème, cream, was in 16th c. referred to L.
cremor (see
cremor), and latinized as
cremor lactis,
crema lactis.)]
1. The oily or butyraceous part of milk, which gathers on the top when the milk is left undisturbed; by churning it is converted into butter.
clotted cream or
clouted cream, known also locally as
Devonshire cream,
Somersetshire cream,
whipped cream, etc.: see
clouted.
| 1332 Creyme [in Rogers Agric. & Prices I. 404]. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 269 A fewe Cruddes and Craym [B. vi. 284 creem, C. ix. 306 creyme]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 95 Al þe creem and fatnesse of þat mylke. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 101 Creme of mylke, quaccum. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 81 in Babees Bk. (1868) 123 Bewar at eve of crayme of cowe. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Yf thou haue no honny take swete creame. 1542 Boorde Dyetary xii. (1870) 267 Clowtyd crayme and rawe crayme put togyther. 1626 Bacon Sylva §314 We see Cream is Matured, and made to rise more speedily by putting in cold Water. 1673 Whipped cream [see whipped ppl. a. 3]. 1778 Love Feast 33 With wheezing Whistle [He] whisks up his whipt Cream. 1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. 991 Devonshire cream, is a term applied in the county of that name, sometimes to sour curd, and sometimes to sour cream. 1841–44 Emerson Ess., Manners Wks. (Bohn) I. 208 A new class finds itself at the top, as certainly as cream rises in a bowl of milk. 1865 E. Burritt Walk to Land's End viii. 269 That most delectable of luxuries, Devonshire or clotted cream. 1889 Boy's Own Paper 10 Aug. 714/3 Smearing both with Devonshire cream and with honey. |
| fig. a 1657 Sir J. Balfour Ann. Scot. (1824–5) II. 262 Notwithstanding of all this faire wether and sueet creame intendit by the courte. 1661 A. Wright in Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. cxvii. 2 This turns all that a man hath to cream. |
2. transf. a. A fancy dish or sweet of which cream is an ingredient, or which has the appearance and consistency of cream, as
almond,
chocolate,
iced cream, etc.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 7 Fride Creme of Almaundys.—Take almaundys, an stampe hem, an draw it vp wyth a fyne thykke mylke..gadere alle þe kreme in þe clothe. 1667 Milton P.L. v. 347 From sweet kernels prest She tempers dulcet creams. 1751 [see almond 10]. 1831 Cat's Tail 29 The creams were not iced. 1836 T. Hook G. Gurney (L.), The remnants of a devoured feast..creams half demolished— jellies in trembling lumps. |
† b. A substance or liquor of cream-like consistency;
esp. a decoction (of barley, etc.):
cf. cremor.
Obs.| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 116 Skum or creme of the eyes. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 119 Till the meate bee perfectly chaunged and boyled into a moyst and liquid Creame. 1626 Bacon Sylva §49 Indian Maiz..must be thoroughly boyled, and made into a Maiz-Creame like a Barley-Creame. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xi. 24 To change the acid Cream brought out of the Stomach, forthwith into a brackish Salt. |
c. The part of a liquid which gathers on the top like the cream on milk; a ‘head’ of scum, froth, etc.
| 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. vii. §12 (1681) 141 Let the Vessel not be quite full, that there may be room for the Cider to gather a Head or Cream. a 1672 E. Montague tr. Barra's Art of Mettals ii. xii. (1674) 38 Let it stand awhile, and if there arise a scum or cream, that is gross, or oily, scum it off. 1819 Byron Juan ii. clxxviii, The cream of your champagne. |
d. A cream-like preparation used cosmetically. See also
cold cream.
| 1765 Goldsm. Double Transform. 85 In vain she tries her paste and creams To smooth her face or hide its seams. 1810 Russell To a Lady in Poet. Reg. 139 A pot of cold cream to Eliza you send..Whoe'er with this cream shall her countenance smear, All redness and roughness will strait disappear. |
e. Used in the names of some cordials and liqueurs, with reference to their viscid character, or acknowledged excellence;
cream of the valley,
cream of the wilderness, fancy names applied to gin.
spec. A full-bodied mellow sherry. In full
cream sherry.
Cf. Bristol cream.
| 1858 Mayhew Paved with Gold i. 1 (Farmer) What's up, Jim?..is it cream of the walley or fits as has overcome the lady? 1873 St. Paul's Mag. ii. 10 It's so jolly cold, I shall just buy some Cream of the Wilderness for mother. 1964 Wine & Spirit Trade Record 19 May 653 (Advt.), A noble newcomer to the ranks of the famous, Diamond Jubilee Cream, the magnificent sweet cream sherry. 1965 Guardian 28 Nov. 2/8 A superb cream of considerable age. Bot. 21/6. 1969 Observer 21 Dec. 4/1 Of the complete range of Sherries on show five..each depicting one of the five main classifications—Fino—Amontillado—Oloroso—Amoroso—Cream. |
f. The liquid rich in droplets or particles of the dispersed phase that forms a separate (
esp. upper) layer in an emulsion or suspension when it is allowed to stand or is centrifuged;
spec. the liquid rich in globules of rubber that forms a layer on the surface of latex in the manufacture of india-rubber.
| 1903 J. G. McIntosh tr. Seeligmann's Indiarubber 57 The hydrocarbide elements solidify on the surface into a sort of thick cream. 1914 H. Brown Rubber 71 The latex is diluted with water and is allowed to stand until the ‘cream’, consisting of the rubber globules, rises to the surface... The cream is afterwards converted into solid rubber by pressure [etc.]. 1934 H. N. Holmes Introd. Colloid Chem. viii. 78 Creams rise or sink according to the densities of the two liquids. If the two liquids have the same density they never cream. 1950 J. W. McBain Colloid Sci. ii. 21 In the cream the droplets are close together, and they may even..clump together, but it is important to note that they have not coalesced. 1965 Trans. Inst. Rubber Ind. XLI. 144 The latex in the creaming tank is then left undisturbed for about three weeks at the end of which separation is as complete as practical and the tank contains 24,000 gallons of cream..and 12,000 gallons of serum. |
3. fig. The most excellent element or part; the best of its kind; the choice part; the quintessence.
| 1581 Mulcaster Positions xxxix. (1887) 197 The gentlemen, which be the creame of the common. 1621–51 Burton Anat. Mel. i. iv. i. 215, I say of our Melancholy man, he is the cream of humane adversity. 1632 Massinger City Madam i. i, The cream o' the market. 1688 Bunyan Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886) 18 These therefore must have the cream of the gospel, namely, the first offer thereof in His lifetime. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv, The inside of the letter, is always the cream of the correspondence. 1824 Byron Juan xv. xli, An only daughter, Who seem'd the cream of equanimity. 1862 Sala Seven Sons I. iv. 65 Receiving the cream of society, but never returning visits. 1890 Sat. Rev. 1 Feb. 145/2 Flight-shooting at duck is the very cream of wild-fowl shooting. |
4. a. cream of tartar: the purified and crystallized bitartrate of potassium, used in medicine and for various technical purposes.
| 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §101 The Cream of Tartar is..to be had at any Druggist. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cream of Tartar, is made of Tartar, or dry Wine-lees. 1807 T. Thomson Chem. (ed. 3) II. 287 Tartar, or Cream of Tartar as it is commonly called when pure. 1882 Syd. Soc. Lex., Cream of tartar whey, two drachms of bitartrate of potash are added to a pint of milk. The whey, diluted with water, is used as a diuretic in dropsy. |
b. cream of tartar tree: a tree of Northern Australia,
Adansonia Gregorii: see
quot. The name is also given to the allied Baobab, whence
cream of tartar fruit, the fruit of the Baobab.
| 1866 Treas. Bot. 18/1 Adansonia Gregorii..is a native of the sandy plains of N. Australia, and is known as Sour gourd and Cream of tartar tree..The pulp of its fruit has an agreeable acid taste, like cream of tartar, and is peculiarly refreshing in the sultry climates where the tree is found. |
5. cream of lime: pure slaked lime.
| 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) IV. 154 Earth convertable, by a second calcination, into quick-lime, is called the cream of lime. 1828 Webster cites Encycl., Cream of lime, the scum of lime water. 1871 Tyndall Frag. Sc. xi. 341 Reservoirs..containing pure slaked lime—the so-called ‘cream of lime’. |
6. a. simple attrib. or adj. Cream-coloured, yellowish white.
| 1861 Windsor Express 5 Oct., A cream mare..fetched 50 guineas. 1887 The Lady 20 Jan. 38/1 Trimmed with cream lace. |
b. ellipt. Cream colour; also, a cream-coloured horse, rabbit, or the like.
| 1788 Papers Twining Fam. (1887) 154 She was drawn by a pair of prancing, long-tailed ‘creams’. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton vii. 96 Barges in cream and gold. 1885 Bazaar 30 Mar. 1269/2 A grand pair of creams, with their litter of young. 1892 Pall Mall G. 29 Feb. 3/2 The Queen's horses..The creams are eleven in number. |
7. a. attrib. and
Comb., as
cream-bowl,
cream-fat,
cream-freezer,
cream-pail,
cream-pancake, etc.;
cream-can,
cream-cheque,
cream-lorry,
cream-stand,
cream-truck (chiefly
Austral. and
N.Z.);
cream-blanched,
cream-hued,
cream-white, etc.,
adjs.;
cream-cake, a cake filled with a custard made of cream, eggs, etc.;
cream colour, the colour of cream, a yellowish white; also
attrib.;
absol. a cream-coloured horse;
cream cracker, a crisp, unsweetened biscuit;
cream-cups, a Californian papaveraceous plant,
Platystemon californicus, with cream-coloured flowers;
cream-faced a., having a face of the colour of cream (from fear);
cream horn, a pastry case shaped like a horn and filled with cream and jam; also
attrib.;
cream ice, an ice-cream;
† cream-joy, a kind of sweet-meat;
cream-jug, a small jug for holding cream at table;
† cream-kitte (see
quot.);
cream-laid a., applied to laid paper of a cream colour;
cream-nut = Brazil nut;
cream-pan = creaming pan;
cream-pitcher, (
U.S.) a cream-jug;
cream-pot, a vessel for holding milk while the cream is forming; a vessel for keeping cream;
fig. a dairy maid; see also
quot. 1877 and
cf. cream-kitte;
cream puff, a shell of puff pastry with a cream filling; also
fig. and
transf., as (
a) see
quot. 1919; (
b) something of small consequence; (
c) an effeminate person;
cream-separator, a machine for separating the cream from milk;
cream-slice, a knife-like instrument for skimming milk, or for serving frozen cream;
cream soda orig. U.S., a carbonated drink of soda water;
cream tea, afternoon tea which includes bread or scones with jam and clotted cream;
cream-ware, cream-coloured pottery ware;
† cream-water (see
quot.);
cream-wove, wove paper of cream colour. Also
cream-cheese, etc.
| 1818 Milman Samor 345 Hath the *cream-blanch'd steed..borne away His master? |
| 1590 Tarlton News Purgat. (1844) 56 As merry..as ever Robin Goodfellow made the cuntry wenches at their *Cream-boules. 1636 B. Jonson Discov. Wks. (Rtldg.) 747/2 You may sound these wits..They are cream-bowl, or but puddle-deep. |
| 1855 E. Acton Mod. Cookery (ed. 3) xxvi. 554 A delicious *cream-cake. 1884 Girl's Own Paper Nov. 4/2 Work up the milk into..cream-cake. |
| 1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 16 Father mounted me..on the konaki beside the *cream-cans. |
| 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Mar. 11/6 (Advt.), Small farm for sale... *Cream cheque about $100 per month. 1959 M. Shadbolt New Zealanders 12 The cream-cheques were never large; money was always short. |
| 1694 Molesworth Acc. Denmark (ed. 3) 35 A good Breed of Horses..of a yellowish *Cream Colour. 1769 Stratford Jubilee i. i. 10 An..ass set up his horrid bray, started my cream colours. 1882 Garden 16 Dec. 533/3 Chrysanthemums..cream colour, full flower. |
| 1906 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. v. 93 Biscuits..*Cream Cracker 6d. per lb. 1937 ‘G. Orwell’ Road to Wigan Pier i. 15 You'll like a cream cracker with your cheese. 1962 E. O'Brien Lonely Girl vi. 67 We ate cold turkey and cream crackers. |
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. v. iii. 11 Thou *cream-fac'd Loone. 1793–7 Polit. Ecl. in Spirit Public Jrnls. for 1797 (1799) I. 437 Great Marat..Sees cream-fac'd Stanley turn on Fox his heels. |
| 1908 J. Kirkland Mod. Baker III. lxii. 349 *Cream Horns. Roll out some puff-paste..and cut up in long strips... Wind each of these pieces of paste round a tin mould shaped like a cornucopia... Fill with..whipped cream. Ibid., (caption) Cream horn or cornucopia tin. 1960 E. W. Hildick Boy at Window xiii. 99 Daintily nibbling a cream horn. |
| 1849 Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxvii. 263 What ice will you have—water ice or *cream ice? 1854 in W. James Order of Release (1948) xv. 233 Gentlemen..placidly imbibing a cream ice. 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 97/2 Cream Ice Jacks, street-sellers of ½d. ices. |
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 325, I have..Ruscan and *Cream joy, Wherewith you may slabber you. |
| 1773 Lond. Chron. 7 Sept. 248/3 The following articles..were assayed and marked..castors, ice pails, *cream jugs. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge xv, I observe another fly in the cream-jug. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 93 This feaste [harvest-home] is called the creame-potte or *creame-kitte..the workefolkes will aske theire dames if they have good store of creame, and say that they must have the creame-kitte anon. |
| 1857 Trollope Three Clerks II. xi. 239 An elegant little chamber..supplied with *cream laid note paper, new pens, and the ‘Times’ newspaper. 1863 R. Herring Paper & P.-Making (ed. 3) 123 With reference to the writing qualities..there are five kinds—cream wove, yellow wove, blue wove, cream laid, and blue laid. 1939 ‘J. Struther’ Mrs. Miniver 27 An invitation written..on lavishly stout cream-laid. |
| 1936 M. E. C. Scott Barbara & N.Z. Backblocks 14 Send us bread by the *cream-lorry. 1960 B. Crump Good Keen Man 103, I missed the cream lorry this morning. |
| 1752 Mrs. Delany Corr. 131 My *cream-pail is now before me in my china case, and makes a very considerable figure. |
| 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Esburrer, to fleet the *cream potte. a 1625 Fletcher Wit w. Money ii. v, To carry any dirty dairy Cream-pot, or any gentle Lady of the Laundry behinde my Gelding. 1684 Otway Atheist ii. i, What would your Cream-pot in the Country give for that title, think you? 1877 Holderness Gloss., Cream-pot, a harvest supper of cakes and cream. |
| 1889 Kansas Times & Star 5 Oct., What they [sc. schoolboys] dote on most in pastry is *cream puffs. 1902 A. Bennett Grand Babylon Hotel viii. 86 A cream puff was served..by way of sweets. 1919 Downing Digger Dial. 18 Cream puff, a shell-burst. 1923 T. E. Lawrence Lett. (1938) 399 Chocolate éclairs or cream puffs. 1938 Time 28 Feb. 64/3 His saccharine cinema roles and cream-puff publicity have all too closely linked the word ‘beauty’ with the name ‘Taylor’. 1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 23 Cream puff, weakling. 1958 Spectator 1 Aug. 165/1 Hamlet can be acted by old and young, fat and thin, beef⁓cake and cream-puff, amateur and professional. 1970 R. Crawford Kiss Boss Goodbye ii. viii. 112 You don't scare me... What do you think I am, a cream-puff or something? |
| 1884 Pall Mall G. Extra 24 July 3/1 There are three *cream separators. 1887 Spectator 1 Oct. 1305 Milk from which the cream has been taken by the centrifugal cream-separator. |
| 1789 W. Marshall Glouc. I. 269 *Cream-slice, a wooden knife, somewhat in the shape of a table-knife; length 12 or 14 inches. |
| 1854 Amer. Agriculturist 20 Dec. 233/3 A recipe has been sold all over the country for making ‘*cream-soda’. 1935 L. MacNeice Poems 31 Drunk with steam-organs, thigh-rub and cream-soda. |
| 1963 M. Duggan in C. K. Stead N.Z. Short Stories (1966) 116, I..sat by the *cream stand out on the main road. |
| 1964 P. M. Hubbard Pict. Millie viii. 74 We just bathe and moon about and eat *cream teas. |
| 1960 N. Hilliard Maori Girl i. i. 9 A wooden bridge..stands, its stringers creaking beneath every *cream-truck. |
| 1780 in D. C. Towner Eng. Cream-Coloured Earthenware (1957) iii. 10 (Advt.), To be sold..At the Derby Pot Manufactury, A large quantity of Earthenware..consisting of..Enamelled *Cream Ware, and plain Cream tentable ware. 1865 E. Meteyard Life of Wedgwood I. vii. 285 By the close of the year 1761 Mr. Wedgwood has brought his cream-ware to a considerable degree of perfection. 1962 Creamware [see Astbury]. |
| 1726 Dict. Rust. s.v., *Cream-water, such Water as has a Kind of Oil upon it or fat Scum, which being boiled, turns to several Medicaments. |
| 1842 Tennyson Sir Launcelot & Q. Guinevere 31 Her *cream-white mule. 1882 Garden 5 Aug. 110/1 A little Hollyhock with cream-white flowers. |
| 1863 *Cream-wove [see cream-laid]. 1891 Haymarket Stores Catal. 387 Foreign note paper. Strong cream wove. |
b. Also (as in
cream-cake) used to designate many other confections cooked with cream, or filled with whipped cream or Devonshire cream, as
cream bun,
cream scone,
cream slice, etc.
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confect. Dict. sig. L6, Cream Tarts..Eggs..Flour..Milk..Butter..Salt... Make your Tarts of Puff-paste... Pour in your Cream. Ibid. sig. L6v, Cream-Toasts, or Pain Perdu. 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ix. 112 A Cream Pudding..Cream..Mace..Nutmeg..Eggs..Flour..Almonds..Rose-water. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair I. iii. 20, I ought to have remembered the pepper which the Princess of Persia puts into the cream-tarts in the Arabian Nights. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 191 (heading) Cream sauce for fish or white dishes. 1877 Cassell's Dict. Cookery 160/2 Cream Biscuits..Cream Fritters. Ibid. 161/2 Cream Pancakes..Cream Pudding. Ibid. 162/1 Cream Sauce. Ibid. 162/2 Cream Toasts. 1888 L. Hargis Graded Cook Bk. 13 Amber Cream Soup... One pint cream, one pint milk, pinch of salt, pinch of cinnamon, three eggs. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 469/2 Cream Scones..will take from ten to twelve minutes to cook. 1894 Cream bun [sold in London]. 1897 Hearth & Home 2 Dec. 171/2 Devonshire Cream Buns. 1906 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 906 Cream Buns. 1915 M. Byron Cake Bk. 71–2 Cream Scones. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 360/1 A purée or cream soup garnished with lettuce. 1962 Which? Jan. 17/1 Cream soups are different from plain soups in that they contain a certain minimum of fat. 1963 Times 14 May 4/1 Milburn, whose zestful run up suggested a Bunter in quest of a cream bun. |
▸
cream-crowdie n. Sc. = cranachan n. (
cf. crowdie n. 2).
| 1929 F. M. McNeill Scots Kitchen 200 *Cream-crowdie. An indispensable dish at the Kirn, or Harvest Home. Oatmeal, cream, sugar and flavouring to taste. 1996 BBC Good Food Oct. 38/4 Bramble and bilberry cream crowdie. The coarse oatmeal used here, often called pinhead oatmeal, is available from health food shops and large supermarkets. |
▪ III. cream, v. (
kriːm)
[f. cream n.2] 1. a. intr. Of milk: To form cream.
| 1596 [see creaming vbl. n. b]. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland xxviii. 131 The Dairy-Maids first let the milk stand to cream. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. ii. 119 Strain your Milk into a Pot..put it in your Pans..when 'tis creamed, skim it exceeding clean from the Milk. 1881 J. P. Sheldon Dairy Farming 295 The salient idea in the system is that milk is set in ice-water to cream. |
b. trans. To cause or allow (milk) to form cream.
| 1883 Worcester Advert. 9 June 3/2 It is better to cream the milk at the farm in small vessels. 1886 All Y. Round 14 Aug. 34 They churn the milk instead of creaming it first. |
2. a. intr. Of other liquids: To form a scum or frothy layer on the surface; to mantle, foam, froth.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 101 Cremyn, or remyn, as lycour, spumat. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 89 A sort of men, whose visages Do creame and mantle like a standing pond. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. vi. 13 Some Fountaines creame with a liquid Bitumen. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 331 If it..cream like bottled ale. 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xx. 291 The wine that was frothing and creaming in her glass. |
| fig. 1840 Lady C. Bury Hist. Flirt xxiv, My temper chafed and creamed under hourly unkindness. |
b. with
advb. extension, as
down,
up.
| 1844 Talfourd Vac. Rambles i. vii. (1851) 94 The stream..was seen creaming down a dark precipice. 1881 Daily Tel. 24 Feb., The tide creaming past us. |
c. Of an emulsion or suspension,
esp. rubber latex: to form cream (
n.2 sense 2 f); to separate into a layer of cream and another layer.
| 1903 [implied in creaming vbl. n. c]. 1914 H. Brown Rubber 71 Castilloa latex..creams very readily. 1926 IRI Trans. II. 229 Iceland moss extract will cause the latex to ‘cream’ in a few hours. 1934 [see cream n.2 2 f]. 1950 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) X. 553/1 Latex creams very slowly and incompletely under the influence of gravity. 1960 A. W. Adamson Physical Chem. Surfaces ix. 389 Various O/W [sc. oil-in-water] emulsions, if allowed to stand, would separate or cream into emulsion-rich and emulsion-poor portions. |
d. trans. To cause (latex) to cream; to bring about creaming in.
| 1938 C. F. Flint Chem. & Technol. Rubber Latex v. 204 It is possible to cream latex. 1943 H. Barron Mod. Synthetic Rubbers (ed. 2) x. 160 It is difficult to cream or centrifuge Buna latex because the particles are much smaller than normal rubber particles. 1965 Trans. Inst. Rubber Industry XLI. 136 In 1924 Traube patented the use of organic colloids for creaming natural rubber latex. |
3. To rise to the top like cream.
nonce-use.
| 1887 N. & Q. 7th ser. IV. 57/2 That a man must have creamed to the top by prosperity and success. |
4. trans. To skim the cream from the surface of (milk).
| 1727–31 Bailey vol. II. Cream, to skim off cream. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 205 The spoon, which had unluckily been left, after creaming the milk for my tea. |
5. To separate as cream;
fig. to take the cream of, take the best or choicest part of; to gather as the cream. Const.
off.
| 1615 Crooke Body of Man 410 Nourished..by a most pure and bright substance out of the separation of the bloud; as if he should say, it is creamed as it were off from the bloud. 1677 Cleveland's Poems Ded. A iv, Yet how many such Authors must be creamed..to make up his Fuscara? 1704 Swift T. Tub ix, Such a man, truly wise, creams off nature leaving the sour and the dregs, for philosophy and reason to lap up. 1836 Tait's Mag. III. 490 The picturesque table of matters which my aunt creamed for us. 1884 Sat. Rev. 15 Nov. 621/2 It has been found necessary to cream the battalions now in England to make up the Nile expedition. 1905 Daily Chron. 13 Sept. 4/3 What is the function of the Volunteers?.. To be creamed off into foreign service? 1957 Times 14 Feb., Ring roads must be built to cream off the heavy industrial traffic. |
6. To add cream to a cup of tea, coffee, etc.
| 1834 M. Edgeworth Helen xxxvi, He sugared, and creamed, and drank, and thought, and spoke not. 1850 Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 194 [She] creams and sugars as if her hands dallied over a labour of love. Mod. To cream tea. |
7. To prepare (fish, chicken, etc.) in a cream sauce.
| 1906, 1908, 1935 [see creamed ppl. a. 2]. |
8. To work (butter and sugar, yolk of eggs and sugar, etc.) into a creamy consistency.
| 1889 R. Wells Pastry Cook & Confect. Guide 30 Then start and cream the butter and sugar together. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Pract. Cookery I. 839/2 Cream 1/4lb. of butter, add 1/4lb. of caster sugar. 1906 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 916 Cream the butter and sugar together until thick and white. 1915 M. Byron Cake Bk. 132 Cream eight ounces of butter with eight ounces of sugar. Ibid. 139 Cream four ounces of castor sugar with six yolks. 1916 D. Canfield Understood Betsy (1922) vi. 109 You put the silver around, while I cream the potatoes. 1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 167/1 Simple operations such as creaming sugar and fat. |
b. transf. To deal with vigorously and with success,
esp. to beat or thrash; to defeat heavily, as in sporting contexts; to ruin or wreck (a motor vehicle, etc.).
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1929 Princeton Alumni Weekly 24 May 981/1 Say, if he opens his mouth, I'll cream him. Ibid. 981/3 To cream is a delightful verb that is an essential part of any toughie's vocabulary... It may be applied to an individual, an exam, almost anything that one dislikes heartily. 1962 Kingston (Ont.) Whig-Standard 30 Oct. 10/4 It makes a player keep his head up, thus he isn't as liable to get creamed by a bodychecking forward or defenceman. 1972 National Observer (U.S.) 27 May 1/1 Fifteen minutes ago I would have creamed that car, and probably the kids too. 1973 W. Sheed People will always be Kind ii. v. 317 Time for one more poll, and let's hope this was the right one. It showed us creaming Wilkins, and just about edging the rest. 1977 Times 29 July 10/3 Hookes had twice creamed Willis effortlessly through the covers. 1978 J. Carroll Mortal Friends iv. v. 442 Brady had pretended, for ambition's sake, to garner less power than Curley, and in the end Curley had creamed him. |
9. To treat (the skin) with a cosmetic cream.
| 1921 W. J. Locke Mountebank xi. 142 She corseted herself, creamed her face, set a coiffeur to work his will on her hair. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 748 Stripped at the washstand dabbing and creaming. 1927 Daily Express 14 Oct. 3/6 To have their ankles massaged, creamed, and drilled into the approved slender lines of grace and beauty. 1952 D. Ames Murder, Maestro, Please xvi. 111, I blacked out..without even creaming my face. 1967 ‘M. Erskine’ Case with 3 Husbands vi. 88 Ginney picked up a jar and began to cream her face briskly. |
▪ IV. cream var. of
crame,
Sc., a stall, etc.
▪ V. cream to crumble: see
crim v.