▪ I. † ˈcrosslet1 Obs.
Forms: 4–6 cros-, 4–7 crosse-, 7 crosslet; also 4 croslette, crosel(l)et(t, crosselette, croislet; cres(e)let(e, cresselet, crescellette.
[app. dim. of OF. croiseul night-lamp, crucible. Besides croiseul, in Cotgr. cruzeul, crusol, OF. had also the parellel dim. forms croisel, crosel, cruseau, and later F. croiset, now creuset (see cruset); both endings appear to be present in croselet. F. had also a variant creseul: cf. our variants in cres-. The sense ‘lamp’ is app. not recorded in Eng.]
A crucible.
| c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 240 And sondry vessels maad of erthe and glas..Violes, crosletz, and sublymatories [v.r. croslets, -is, creseletes, -ys, cresletes, crescellettes]. Ibid. 600 The coles for to couchen al aboue The crosselet [v.r. croslet, crosselette, croislet, cresselet]. 1584 R. Scot Discov. Witchcr, xiv. i. 295 Their..alembicks, viols, croslets, cucurbits. 1592 Lyly Galathea ii. iii, Blowing of bellowes..and scraping of croslets. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. i. iii, Your crosse-lets, crucibles, and cucurbites. |
▪ II. crosslet2
(ˈkrɒslɪt, ˈkrɔːs-)
Also 6 crosselette, 7–8 crosselet, 6–9 croslet.
[a. Anglo-F. croiselette, dim. of OF. crois cross: cf. OF. croisette, and for form OF. femmette, later femmelette, f. femme.]
1. Her. A small cross; see also quot. 1661.
| [1300 Siege of Caerlaverock 16 Ky les armes ot vermeillettes O blanc lyon et croisselettes.] 1538 Leland Itin. II. 93 Crosselettes of Golde many intermist in one yn a Feld..Gules. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 36 Her champion trew, That in his armour bare a croslet red. 1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry ii. i. 11 The Cross Croslet or Crossed, for brevity of blazon, you may term Croslets only. 1727–51 Chambers Cycl. s.v., In heraldry..we frequently see the shield covered with crosselets..Crosses themselves frequently terminate in crosselets. 1864 Boutell Heraldry Hist. & Pop. xv. 175 Charging his lion and his crosslets on a field ermine. |
2. gen. A small cross (used as an ornament, etc.).
| 1802 W. Taylor in Robberds Mem. I. 420 Crosslets glitter on the necks of the ladies. 1823 Lockhart Anc. Sp. Ball., Young Cid ii, There is no gold about the boy, but the crosslet of his sword. |
† 3. = cross-cloth 2. Obs.
| 1607 Lingua iv. vi. in Hazl. Dodsley IX. 426 Bandlets, fillets, crosslets, pendulets. a 1688 Villiers (Dk. Buckhm.) Instalment Wks. 1705 II. 88 He..tore His pert Wif's Croslet off. |
4. attrib. Shaped like a crosslet.
| 1820 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1857) I. 291 The battlements, and crosslet loopholes of the castle. |
Hence ˈcrossleted ppl. a., bearing or adorned with a crosslet.
| 1801 Scott Fire-King xxxiv, The scallop, the saltier, and crossleted shield. 1846 Ruskin Mod. Paint. II. iii. ii. v. §20 His hand fallen on his crossleted sword. 1858 Ecclesiologist XIX. 209 A crossleted banner. |
▪ III. crosslet
obs. var. croslet = corslet.