▪ I. crest, n.1
(krɛst)
Forms: 4–7 creste, 4– crest; also 4–6 creest(e, 4–7 crist(e, 5 krest(e, creyste, 5–7 creast, 6 Sc. creist.
[ME. a. OF. creste (13th c. in Littré, also creiste), mod.F. crête, = Pr., Sp., It. cresta:—L. crista tuft, plume.]
1. a. A ‘comb’, a tuft of feathers, or similar excrescence, upon an animal's head.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 197 (Mätz.) He..had anon igrowe a spore on þe leg, and a crest on þe heed, as it were a cok. 1398 ― Barth. De P.R. xviii. xxxiii. (1495) 795 A certen fysshe hauynge a creste lyke to a sawe. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 329 A lappewinke made he was..And on his heed there stont upright A crest in token of a knight. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 102 Creste, of a byrdys hede, cirrus. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 155 Phebus red fowle hys corall creist can steir. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 525 Oft he [the serpent] bowd His turret Crest. 1781 Cowper Truth 476 The subtlest serpent with the loftiest crest. 1842 Tennyson Locksley Hall 18 In the Spring the wanton lapwing Gets himself another crest. |
b. fig. In phrases, such as to erect, elevate, let fall one's crest, used as a symbol of pride, self-confidence, or high spirits. Cf. crestfallen.
| 1531 Tindale Exp. 1 John 27 When the byshoppes sawe that..they beganne to set up theyr crestes. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 380 And make him fall His crest. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. 80 Then began the Argives to let fall their crests and sue for peace. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. VIII. 318 That this faction does..erect its crest upon the engagement. 1851 Gallenga Italy 481 After a short explanation..their crests fell, and..all went away satisfied. |
c. Any feathery-like tuft or excrescence: applied e.g. to the tail of a comet.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 33 Stella comata, þat is, a sterre wiþ a briȝt shynynge crest. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vi. cxlix. 135, .Ii. blasynge starrys, or .ii. starrys with crestis. |
2. An erect plume or tuft of feathers, horse-hair, or the like, fixed on the top of a helmet or head-dress; any ornament or device worn there as a badge or cognizance.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 622 Al anoneward þe helm an heȝ ys crest a bar adoun & þe cercle of gold þat sat þer-bey. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 1128 The creste, that on his hede shold stond, Hit was all gold shynand. 1605 Camden Rem., Armories (R.), Creasts being the ornaments set on the eminent toppe of the healme..were vsed auntiently to terrifie the enemy, and therefore were strange deuises or figures of terrible shapes. 1824 Macaulay Ivry, A thousand knights are pressing close behind the snow-white crest. 1874 Whittier Eagle's Quill from Lake Superior ix, War-chiefs with their painted brows, And crests of eagle wings. |
3. a. Her. A figure or device (originally borne by a knight on his helmet) placed on a wreath, coronet, or chapeau, and borne above the shield and helmet in a coat of arms; also used separately, as a cognizance, upon articles of personal property, as a seal, plate, note-paper, etc.
As it represents the ornament worn on the knight's helmet, it cannot properly be borne by a woman, or by a corporate body, as a college or city. (It is a vulgar error to speak of the arms or shields of such bodies as crests.)
| a 1400–50 Alexander 1837 (Ashmole MS.) To Darius..enditis he a pistill, A crest clenly inclosid þat consayued þis wordis. 1431 E.E. Wills (1882) 88 A faire stone of Marble with my creste, myn armes, my vanturs. 1572 J. Bossewell (title), Workes of Armorie deuided into three Bookes, entituled..of Cotes and Creastes. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. ii. i. 226 What is your Crest, a Coxcombe? 1622 Peacham Compl. Gentl. i. (1634) 15 Mine old Host at Arnhem..changed his Coate and Crest thrice in a fortnight. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life ii. iv. (1862) 120 A crescent,—the crest of the Northumberland family. |
b. fig.
| c 1425 Fest. Church 66 in Leg. Rood (1871) 212 Whan kyngis sone bare fleisshly creste. 1592 Lyly Midas v. ii, Melancholy is the creast of courtiers' armes. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 173 Who have nothing but long Nails as the Crests of idle Gentility. |
c. Archery. A series of narrow coloured bands painted around the shaft of an arrow below the fletching, used as an identifying mark.
| 1929 A. W. Lambert Mod. Archery xii. 108 This protective painting is elaborated to serve as a decoration of heraldic nature, termed the crest. 1939 P. H. Gordon New Archery xviii. 271 The crest is an arrangement of bright paint bands about the chest of the shaft. |
4. The apex or ‘cone’ of a helmet; hence, a helmet or head-piece.
| c 1325 Coer de L. 275 Upon hys crest a raven stode. c 1386 Chaucer Sir Thopas 195 Vpon his crest he bar a tour. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 782 Hic conus, a crest. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. ii. 11 On his craven crest A bounch of heares discolourd diversly. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 317 There stucke no plume in any English Crest, That is remoued by a staffe of France. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 988 On his crest Sat horror plum'd. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 416 On his unguarded Crest The Stroke delusive fell. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) I. 22 The feathers that danced on his crest. |
5. a. The head, summit, or top of anything.
| 1382 Wyclif Ex. xxviii. 23 Two goldun ryngis, the whiche thow shalt putte in either creeste of the broche. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 128 Hevynly lylleis..Oppynnyt and schew thar creistis redymyte. 1632 Lithgow Trav. (1682) 71 The Northern wind..doth first murmur at this aspiring Oke, and then striketh his Crest with some greater strength. 1635 Quarles Emblems v. xi, The drooping crests of fading flow'rs. 1859 Tennyson Enid 827 The giant tower, from whose high crest, they say, Men saw the goodly hills of Somerset. 1871 Rossetti Troy Town xii, His arrow's burning crest. |
b. esp. The summit of a hill or mountain.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 731 Þer as claterande fro þe crest þe colde borne rennez. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 882 Appone the creste of the cragge. 1470–85 Malory Arthur v. v, And wente forth by the creast of that hylle. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 83 The very pitch and crest of the hill, the Scyto⁓tauri do hold. 1681 Cotton Wond. Peake 5 At a high Mountains foot, whose lofty crest O're looks the Marshy Prospect. 1799 Wellington in Gurw. Desp. I. 22 Strongly posted on the elevated crest of a rocky ridge. 1818 Shelley Rev. Islam iv. xxxii, O'er many a mountain chain which rears Its hundred crests aloft. |
c. fig. The most excellent, the crown. rare.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 855 Of spotlez perlez þa[y] beren þe creste. 1838 De Quincey The Avenger Wks. 1890 XII. 239 And yet to many it was the consummation and crest of the whole. 1873 Lowell All Saints 1 One feast, of holy days the crest..All-Saints. |
6. Arch. a. The finishing of stone, metal, etc., which surmounts a roof-ridge, wall, screen, or the like; a cresting; sometimes applied to the finial of a gable or pinnacle. b. Short for crest-tile (see 11).
| 1430 Lydg. Chron. Troy ii. xi, To reyse a wall With batayling and crestes marciall. 1513 Will of J. Hutton (Somerset Ho.), Crest of the Highe Aulter. c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 188 Than Arthur..slypped downe thereby tyll he came to the crest of the wall. 1596–7 S. Finche in Ducarel Hist. Croydon App. (1783) 155 The crests as heigh for the safegarde of the windoes. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 526 Supposing verily there had been tiles and crests indeed. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. vii. 14. 1626 Bacon Sylva §537 Moss groweth chiefly upon Ridges of Houses..and upon the Crests of Walls. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xx. 491 As a rule, crests cost as much by the hundred as plain tiles do by the thousand. |
7. An elevated ridge. a. The lofty ridge of a mountain which forms its sky line, and from which the surface slopes on each side; the summit line of a col or pass; the ridge of a hedge-bank or the like. b. Fortif. The top line of a parapet or slope. c. A balk or ridge in a field between two furrows. d. The curling foamy top or ridge of a wave; the highest part of any undulation.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 102 Creyste, of londe eryyde, porca. 1830 E. S. N. Campbell Dict. Mil. Sc. 21 Four feet and a half below the crest of the Parapet. 1850 Layard Nineveh vii. 151 Two vast rocks formed a kind of gateway on the crest of the pass. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 19 Crests, cradges, and ward-dykes [were] constructed to hold off fen-waters. 1864 Ld. Derby Iliad iv. 485 First curls the ruffl'd sea With whit'ning crests. 1865 Geikie Scen. & Geol. Scot. vi. 118 From a rounded and flattened ridge it narrows into a mere knife-edged crest, shelving steeply into the glens on either side. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 214. |
e. Chiefly Electr. Engin. A point in a wave-form at which the varying quantity is a maximum. Hence crest factor, the ratio of the maximum value (crest value) of an alternating current or voltage to its root-mean-square value; crest voltmeter, any instrument for measuring the maximum value of an alternating voltage. (Cf. peak n.2)
| 1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 111/1 [Acoustics.] The wave represented by the dotted line, which..has its crests. 1914 H. Pender Amer. Handbk. Electr. Engineers 1297 Crest-factor or peak-factor is the ratio of the crest or maximum value to the r.m.s. value. Ibid., The crest value of a sine⁓wave is √2. 1916 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engin. XXXV. i. 115 The crest voltmeter is a direct-reading instrument, reading either the r.m.s. value of a sine wave having the same crest as a high voltage wave to which it is connected, or the true crest value, depending upon its calibration. 1961 Listener 9 Nov. 767/2 With an alternating current system, the insulation has to withstand the maximum value of the crest of the voltage wave; and that crest value is higher than the useful value, and so some of the expensive insulating capacity is wasted. In a direct current system the crest value of the voltage is the useful value, so there is no waste of insulation. |
8. a. The ridge or surface line of the neck of a horse, dog, or other animal; sometimes applied to the mane which this part bears.
| 1592 Shakes. Ven. & Ad. 272 His braided hanging mane Upon his compass'd crest now stand on end. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. i. (1668) 2 Chuse a horse with a deep neck, large crest. 1724 Lond. Gaz. No. 6286/3 Stolen..a..Gelding..with Saddle Spots upon his Crest. a 1849 Sir R. Wilson Autobiog. (1862) I. ii. 89 My little mare received..a musket-ball through the crest of her neck. 1872 Ruskin Eagle's Nest §227 The crest, which is properly the mane of lion or horse. |
† b. The dewlap of an ox. Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 58 A long, thick, and soft neck; his crest descending down to the knee. |
9. a. A raised ridge on the surface of any object.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Areste, The Crest, of a sword, &c.; a sharpe rising in the middle thereof. |
b. Anat. A ridge running along the surface of a bone, as the frontal, occipital, parietal (or sagittal) crests of the skull, the lacrymal, nasal, and turbinated crests in the face, the iliac, pubic, and tibial crests, etc.
| 1828 Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 152 Horns..slightly bent outwards and forwards, the frontal crest passing behind them. 1831 R. Knox Cloquet's Anat. 149 These surfaces are separated by three edges. The anterior..is called the Crest (crista tibiæ). 1872 Mivart Elem. Anat. 178 The ilium has a wide outer surface, the upper border of which is termed the ‘crest’. |
c. dental crest: ‘the ridge of epithelium which, at the earliest stage of the development of the teeth, covers in the dental groove, and from the lower layers of which the enamel organ is developed’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1882).
d. Bot. and Zool. A formation resembling a crest or ridge, on the surface of an organ.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal i. i. (1633) 2 Leafe, Sheath, eare, or crest. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 145 The keel [of Polygala] has an appendage..called technically a crest, and often consisting of one or even two rows of fringes or divisions. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 392 Luzula pilosa..crest of seeds long curved terminal. 1875 Bennett & Dyer Sachs' Bot. 540 When outgrowths occur on the seed, either along the raphe..or as a cushion covering the micropyle..they are variously called Crest, Strophiole, or Caruncle. |
e. (See quot. 1954.)
| 1916 C. E. Allen Machinery's Screw Thread Bk. 3 The crest is the prominent part of the thread, of either the male screw or of the female screw. 1954 Defs. for use in Mech. Engin. (B.S.I.) 16 Crest, that part of the surface of a thread which connects adjacent flanks at the top of the ridge. |
† 10. The middle line of fold in broad-cloth.
| 1483 Act 1 Rich. III, c. 8 §4 Every hole wolen Cloth called brode Cloth shall hold and conteyn in leenght xxiiij yerdes..to be measured by the Crest of the same Cloth. |
11. Comb., as crest-bearer, crest-feather, † crest-front; crest-like, crest-lopped, crest-wounding adjs.; crest-board, a board which forms the crest or finishing of any projecting part of a building; crest-line, (a) a series of ridges; (b) the sky-line of a ridge (cf. 7 a); † crest-risen, † crest-sunk a. (cf. 1 b and crest-fallen); crest-tile, a bent tile used to cover the crest or ridge of a roof; crest-wreath (in Her.), the wreath or fillet of twisted silk which bears the crest.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 27 Dec. 3/2 The united crest of France and Navarre..supported by two angels as *crest-bearers. |
| 1881 Mechanic §985 If a gutter be made..the front may be finished with a *crest-board. |
| 1836 Todd Cycl. Anat. I. 291/2 To elevate the *crest-feathers. |
| 1890 Ld. Lugard Diaries (1959) I. ii. 96 The house..does not run parallel with the *crest line, so..I am bound to make the Stockade skew-wise a bit. 1901 ‘Linesman’ Words by Eyewitness (1902) 49 From the encircling rim are darting innumerable spurts of flame..from the rifles of the men clinging like flies to the crest-line. 1915 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 9/2 Hardly had we rejoined the battalion, which was formed up behind a second crest-line.., when a tremendous shell fire began to fall. |
| 1611 Cotgr., Accresté..also, cockit, proud, lustie, *creast-risen. |
| 1618 R. Brathwait Descr. Death 271 Chapfalne, *crest-sunke, drie-bon'd anatomie. |
| 1477 Act 17 Edw. IV, c. 3 Thaktile, roftile, ou *crestile. 1611 Cotgr., Enfaistau, a Ridge-tyle, Creast-tyle, Roofe-tyle. 1876 Gwilt Archit. Gloss. s.v., In Gothic architecture, crest tiles are those which, decorated with leaves, run up the sides of a gable or ornamented canopy. |
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 828 O vnfelt sore, *crest-wounding priuat scarre! |
| 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xvii. 265 This *Crest-Wreath first appears a little before the middle of the 14th century. |
▪ II. † crest, n.2 Obs.
[ad. It. cresta (and pl. creste) ‘a disease..called the piles or hemorrhoides’ (Florio); a specific use of cresta tuft: see prec.]
The disease called piles; also, corns.
| 1569 R. Androse tr. Alexis' Secr. iv. iii. 46 Against the crestes of the piles in the fundiment. 1651 Surgions Direct. ix. 244 This kind of Tumor is called..Cornes in English; and I thought it good to call them Crest, because they are alwayes growing. |
▪ III. † crest, n.3, cress Obs.
Forms: 5 crees, 5–6 crest(e, cres, cress(e.
In crest-cloth: some kind of linen cloth.
| c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 38 Take Rys..bray hem smal y-now; & þerow a crees bunte syfte hem. 1436 Pol. Poems (Rolls) (1859) II. 164 Creste clothe, and canvasse. 1488 Will of Elis Brown (Somerset Ho.), A pece of new creste clothe conteygnyng xxiij ellys. 1507 in Kerry St. Lawr., Reading (1883) 234 Paied for ij ells di. of crescloth for to make Eve a cote—xd. 1611 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 92 In any kerchief, koyfe, crest cloth or shaddow. |
b. A piece or fixed quantity of this cloth.
| 1459 Will of Lyghtfote (Somerset Ho.), Crestes panni linei vocat[i] crestcloth. 1488 Will of Jonys, j cresse de cressecloth. [1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices IV. 555 In the earlier years the ‘crest’ appears to be a recognised quantity [of linen cloth].] |
▪ IV. crest, v.
(krɛst)
[f. crest n.1 Cf. crested.]
1. trans. To furnish with a crest; to put a crest, cresting, or ridge on (a building).
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 102 Crestyn, or a-rayyn wythe a creste (Pynson, or sette on a creest), cristo. 1814 Southey Roderick v, The Christian hand..had with a cross Of well-hewn stone crested the pious work. 1851 Turner Dom. Archit. II. v. 215 The Sheriff..is ordered to crest with lead all the passages at Clarendon. |
2. To serve as a crest to; to surmount as a crest; to top, to crown.
| 1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. v. ii. 83 His legges bestrid the Ocean, his rear'd arme Crested the world. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc vii. 11 Broad battlements Crested the bulwark. 1856 Ruskin Mod. Paint. ii. iv. iii. §16 The clinging wood climbing along their ledges and cresting their summits. |
b. ‘To mark with long streaks, in allusion to the streaming hair of the crest’ (Todd).
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. i. 13 Like as the shining skie in summers night..Is creasted all with lines of firie light. |
3. To reach the crest or summit of (a hill, rising ground, wave, etc.).
| 1851 J. H. Newman Cath. in Eng., In this inquisitive age, when the Alps are crested, and seas fathomed. 1877 Kinglake Crimea VI. vi. 75 The..Ravine [was] forbiddingly hard to crest. 1860 Mayne Reid in Chamb. Jrnl. XIV. 172 As we crested each swell, we were freshly exposed to observation. |
4. intr. To erect one's crest, raise oneself proudly. Now dial.
| 1713 Guardian No. 56 ¶6 The bully seemed a dunghil cock, he crested well, and bore his comb aloft. 1791 Boswell Johnson 5 Oct. an. 1773, The old minister was standing with his back to the fire, cresting up erect. |
5. intr. Of waves: To form or rise into a crest; to curl into a crest of foam.
| 1850 Blackie æschylus II. 235 Where wave on wave cresting on Bristles with angry breath. 1882 Geikie Text-bk. Geol. iii. ii. ii. §6 The superficial part of the swell..begins to curl and crest as a huge billow. |
▪ V. crest
obs. var. of kris, Malay dagger.