crest

See also: Crest and CREST

English

A bird's crest (sense 2).

A helmet with a crest (sense 3).

The coat of arms of Kensington and Chelsea with a broom bush as crest (sense 4, a reference to Brompton)

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” (sense 11) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic sense 4, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɹɛst/
• Rhymes: -ɛst

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

crest (plural crests)

1. The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
3. 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.
5. The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
7. (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.

8. The upper curve of a horse's neck.
9. The ridge or top of a wave.
10. The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.
11. The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.
12. The top line of a slope or embankment.
13. (anatomy) A ridge along the surface of a bone.
15. (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.”

16. Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.

Synonyms

• (skin on head of birds): comb, cockscomb

Coordinate terms

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

Derived terms

• crestal
• crest cloud
• crestfallen
• crestfish
• crestie
• crestless
• crestlike
• crestline
• crest tile
• flamecrest
• great crest
• helmetcrest
• hillcrest
• iliac crest
• increst
• infratemporal crest
• interior crest
• neural crest
• neural crest syndrome
• neurocrest
• Pacific Crest
• plovercrest
• ride the crest of the wave
• sagittal crest
• Scotch crest
• [[undercrest

  cresyl#English|undercrest

  cresyl]]

 

Translations

summit of a hill or mountain ridge

• Albanian: kreshtë (sq) f
• Armenian: գագաթ (hy) (gagatʻ)
• Aromanian: creastã f
• Catalan: carena (ca) f
• Dutch: kam (nl) m, bergkam (nl) m, top (nl) m
• Finnish: harja (fi)
• French: crête (fr) f
• German: Gipfel (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient: λόφος m (lóphos), ἄμβων m (ámbōn)

• Italian: cresta (it) f
• Macedonian: врв (mk) m (vrv)
• Maori: upane, tūtūātanga
• Persian: ستیغ (fa) sg (setiɣ)
• Portuguese: cume (pt)
• Romanian: creastă (ro)
• Russian: верши́на (ru) f (veršína)
• Scottish Gaelic: mullach m
• Spanish: cornisa (es) f, cresta (es) f
• Swedish: kam (sv), bergskam (sv)
• Walloon: cresse (wa) f

animal’s or bird’s tuft

• Armenian: կատար (hy) (katar)
• Aromanian: creastã f
• Azerbaijani: pipik (az), daraq (az)
• Bulgarian: гре́бен (bg) m (grében)
• Catalan: cresta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 冠 (zh) (guān)

• Dutch: kuif (nl) f
• Finnish: harja (fi), heltta (fi), töyhtö (fi)
• French: crête (fr) f
• Friulian: creste f
• German: Kamm (de) m, Haube (de) f, Krone (de) f
• Greek:

  Ancient: λόφος m (lóphos)

• Hebrew: ציצית ראש (he)
• Irish: moing f, curca m
• Italian: cresta (it) f
• Japanese: とさか (ja) (tosaka)
• Korean: 볏 (ko) (byeot)
• Latin: crista f
• Macedonian: качулка f (kačulka), кикиришка f (kikiriška), гривна f (grivna)
• Maori: koukou
• Ottoman Turkish: ایبك (ibik)
• Persian: پوپ (fa) (pup), کاکل (fa) (kâkol), خوچ (fa) (xuč)
• Portuguese: crista (pt) f
• Romanian: creastă (ro)
• Russian: гре́бень (ru) m (grébenʹ), гребешо́к (ru) m (grebešók), хохоло́к (ru) m (xoxolók)
• Scottish Gaelic: (cock's) cìrean m
• Serbo-Croatian: uvor
• Spanish: cresta (es) f, penacho (es) m, copete (es) m
• Swedish: kam (sv)
• Turkish: ibik (tr)
• Vietnamese: mào (vi)
• Walloon: cresse (wa) f

plume or decoration on a helmet

• Catalan: crinera (ca) f (of horsehair), plomall (ca) m (of feathers)
• Dutch: pluim (nl) f
• Finnish: töyhtö (fi)
• French: huppe (fr), aigrette (fr)
• Greek:

  Ancient: λόφος m (lóphos)

• Italian: cresta (it) f, cimiero (it) m
• Latin: crista f
• Macedonian: кикиришка f (kikiriška), перјаница f (perjanica), челенка f (čelenka)
• Maori: puhipuhi, hurutihi
• Persian: خوچ (fa) sg (xūč)
• Portuguese: pluma (pt) f, crista (pt) f
• Russian: плюма́ж (ru) m (pljumáž)
• Spanish: cresta (es) f, cimera (es) f
• Welsh: crib (cy) m, tusw m

heraldic bearing

• Czech: klenot m
• Dutch: helmteken (nl) n
• Finnish: kypäränkoriste
• French: cimier (fr) m
• German: Helmzier f, Zimir f, Helmkleinod m
• Italian: timbro (it) m, cimiero (it) m
• Macedonian: челенка f (čelenka)
• Polish: klejnot (pl) m
• Portuguese: timbre (pt) m
• Spanish: cimera (es) f
• Swedish: hjälmprydnad c, krest c

upper curve of horse's neck

• Bulgarian: грива f (griva)
• Finnish: harja (fi)
• French: crinière (fr) f
• Irish: buaic capaill f
• Italian: crine (it) m, criniera (it) f
• Macedonian: грива f (griva)
• Portuguese: crina (pt) f
• Russian: гри́ва (ru) f (gríva), хо́лка (ru) f (xólka)

ridge or top of a wave

• Aromanian: creastã f
• Bulgarian: гре́бен (bg) m (grében)
• Catalan: cresta (ca) f
• Dutch: kam (nl) m, golfkam (nl) m, golftop (nl) m
• Finnish: harja (fi)
• French: crête (fr) f
• German: Wellenkamm (de) m, Wellenspitze f
• Italian: cresta (it) f
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lûtke (ku) f

• Macedonian: гребен m (greben)
• Malay: puncak (ms)
• Portuguese: crista (da/de onda) f
• Romanian: creastă (ro)
• Russian: гре́бень (ru) m (grébenʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: mullach m, bàrr m
• Spanish: cresta (es) f
• Swedish: vågtopp c (top), topp (sv) c, vågkam c (ridge), kam (sv) c
• Tagalog: tuktok
• Vietnamese: đỉnh sóng, ngọn sóng

helm or head

• Albanian: fjuhull m
• Macedonian: креста f (kresta), пувка f (puvka)
• Portuguese: elmo (pt) m

ornamental finishing

• French: crête (fr) f
• Occitan: aresta (oc) f
• Russian: конёк (ru) m (konjók)

top line of a slope

• Finnish: harja (fi), harjaviiva
• Maori: upane
• Russian: гре́бень (ru) m (grébenʹ)

anatomy: ridge along the surface of a bone

• Finnish: harja (fi)

informal: design or logo

bird in the family Regulidae — see kinglet

Verb

crest (third-person singular simple present crests, present participle cresting, simple past and past participle crested)

1. (intransitive) Particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak.
2. (transitive) To reach the crest of (e.g. 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.

3. (transitive) To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.
   • c. 1606–1607 (date written), 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

4. (transitive) 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

particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak

to reach the crest of (a hill or mountain)

• German: erklimmen (de)

to furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for

to mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes

Anagrams

• rects, CERTs, certs, RTECS

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• crescu, acrescu

Etymology

From Latin crēscō. Compare Romanian crește, cresc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kreˈst]

Verb

crest first-singular present indicative (past participle crãscute)

1. to grow

Related terms

• crãshteri
• crãscut