Crest

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -É›st

Origin

From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern crête), from Latin crista.

Full definition of crest

Noun

1. A tuft, or other excrescence or natural ornament, growing on an animal's head; the comb of a cock; the swelling on the head of a serpent; the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc.
2. The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
3. (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.
4. The upper curve of a horse's neck.
5. The ridge or top of a wave.
6. The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
7. The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.
8. The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.
9. The top line of a slope or embankment.
10. A design or logo, especially one of an institution, association or high-class family.
• 1897, w, w:The Celebrity Chapter 1, 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.
• 2012, April 26, Tasha Robinson, Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :, 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.”

Synonyms

• (skin on head of birds) comb, cockscomb

Coordinate terms

• (skin on head of birds) caruncle, snood, wattle

Verb

1. Particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak.
2. To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.
• ShakespeareHis legs bestrid the ocean, his reared arm
  Crested the world.
• Wordsworthgroves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow
3. To mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes.
• SpenserLike as the shining sky in summer's night, ...
  Is crested with lines of fiery light.

Anagrams

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