Crest Meaning
/kɹɛst/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
nounA 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.
Sentence Examples
I've forgotten. Was House Lancaster's family crest a red rose, or a white rose?
The surfer tried to ride the crest of the wave.
Vocabulary Challenge
Test your knowledge of the word "crest" in the LexUp app!
Take English Level Test
CEFR Practice Quiz
The surfer skillfully rode the ____ of the enormous wave.
Word Origin & History
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.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 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:
"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.”"
— 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits :”, in The Onion AV Club:
"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."
— 2019 November 21, Samanth Subramanian, “How our home delivery habit reshaped the world”, in The Guardian:
"His legs bestrid the ocean, his reared arm / Crested the world."
— 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]:
"groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow"
— 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The surfer skillfully rode the ____ of the enormous wave.