crest
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern French crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin *cresta, from Latin crista. Doublet of crista.
The informal meaning “design, logo” (sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
crest (plural crests)
- The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
- A tuft, or other natural ornament, growing on an animal's head, for example the comb of a cockerel, the swelling on the head of a snake, the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc.
- The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
- (heraldry) A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me. I look upon notoriety with the same indifference as on the buttons on a man's shirt-front, or the crest on his note-paper.
- The upper curve of a horse's neck.
- The ridge or top of a wave.
- The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.
- The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.
- The top line of a slope or embankment.
- (anatomy) A ridge along the surface of a bone.
- (informal) A design or logo, especially one of an institution, sports club, association or high-class family.
- 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
- Hungry for fame and the approval of rare-animal collector Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton), Darwin deceives the Captain and his crew into believing they can get enough booty to win the pirate competition by entering Polly in a science fair. So the pirates journey to London in cheerful, blinkered defiance of the Queen, a hotheaded schemer whose royal crest reads simply “I hate pirates.”
- Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.
Synonyms edit
Coordinate terms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
summit of a hill or mountain ridge
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animal’s or bird’s tuft
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plume or decoration on a helmet
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heraldic bearing
upper curve of horse's neck
ridge or top of a wave
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helm or head
informal: design or logo
bird in the family Regulidae — see kinglet
Verb edit
crest (third-person singular simple present crests, present participle cresting, simple past and past participle crested)
- (intransitive) Particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak.
- (transitive) To reach the crest of (a hill or mountain)
- 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian[2]:
- the land rolls gently, so that, upon cresting a low rise or passing a copse of wind turbines, you suddenly spot a lot full of lorries or a complex of gigantic sheds.
- To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.
- c. 1606–1607, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- His legs bestrid the ocean, his reared arm / Crested the world.
- 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk:
- groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow
- To mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13:
- Like as the shining skie in summers night, / What time the dayes with scorching heat abound, / Is creasted all with lines of firie light
Translations edit
particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak
to reach the crest of (a hill or mountain)
to furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for
to mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes
Anagrams edit
Aromanian edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Latin crēscō. Compare Romanian crește, cresc.
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
crest first-singular present indicative (past participle crãscute)
- to grow