crest
/kɹɛst/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.65 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
noun
The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Then, too, the same flutter is observed when it glides over the crest of a wave, but this probably only occurs when the wind lies in a certain direction from the axis of flight."
- "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.”"
- "The Skagit and Snohomish Rivers, which run through the region, are predicted to crest at record levels."
- "Freud’s cultural and scientific influence crested some 70 years ago, and much of psychiatry’s history since then has consisted of a renunciation of the man, his concepts, and his therapeutic techniques so comprehensive as to have an edge of savagery, even vengeance, to it."
- "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."
Etymology
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” (noun sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic noun sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.