crest
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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)
English
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
Noun
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:
- 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
Coordinate terms
Derived terms
Translations
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
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)
- 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
- 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
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
Aromanian
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Latin crēscō. Compare Romanian crește, cresc.
Pronunciation
Verb
crest first-singular present indicative (past participle crãscute)
- to grow