| 释义 |
▪ I. cresset|ˈkrɛsɪt|
Also 4 crassete, 5 crescette, cresette, cressete, -yt, 5–6 cressette, 5–7 -ett, 6 cres(s)hett(e, 7 cressit.
[a. OF. craicet, craisset, cresset in same sense.]
1. A vessel of iron or the like, made to hold grease or oil, or an iron basket to hold pitched rope, wood, or coal, to be burnt for light; usually mounted on the top of a pole or building, or suspended from a roof. Frequent as a historical word; in actual use applied to a fire-basket for giving light on a wharf, etc.
1370Mem. Ripon (Surtees) II. 130, j long cresset. 1393Gower Conf. III. 217 A pot of erthe, in which he tath A light brenning in a cresset. c1477Caxton Jason 85 The cite as light as it had ben daye by the clarte..of torches, cresettes and other fires. 1523Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccc. 694 The erle..was comyng..with a great nomber of cressettes and lyghtes with hym. 1535Coverdale Ecclus. xlviii. 1 Then stode vp Elias the prophet as a fyre, and his worde brent like a creshett. 1574tr. Marlorat's Apocalips 29 As a cresset set vp in a hauen, to shew the hauen a far of. 1656Blount Glossogr., Cresset, an old word used for a Lanthorn or burning beacon. 1667Milton P.L. i. 728 Blazing Cressets fed With Naphtha and Asphaltus. 1782Falconer Shipwr. iii. 202 Where beauteous Hero from the turret's height Display'd her cresset. 1814Scott Ld. of Isles i. xxiv, Soon the warder's cresset shone. 1853Dickens Reprinted Pieces (1866) 221 Here and there, a coal fire in an iron cresset blazed upon a wharf.
†b. A cavity in a cresset-stone. Obs.
1593Rites & Mon. Ch. Durh. (Surtees) 72 A four square stone, wherein was a dozen cressets wrought..being ever filled and supplied with the cooke as they needed, to give light to the Monks.
2. transf. and fig.; cf. torch.
1578Chr. Prayers in Priv. Prayers (1851) 445 Unto the spiritual world the cresset is thy wisdom. 1581Marbeck Bk. of Notes 154 So doth our Sauiour saie of Iohn Baptist, that he was a burning and blasing cresset. 1604Drayton Owle 1140 The bright Cressit of the Glorious Skie. 1826Scott Woodst. xxxiii, The moon..hung her dim dull cresset in the heavens. 1877Bryant Constellations 13 The resplendent cressets which the Twins Uplifted.
3. Coopering. A fire-basket used to char the inside of a cask.
1874in Knight Dict. Mech.
4. local. ‘A kitchen utensil for setting a pot over the fire’ (Bailey (folio), 1730–6).
5. attrib. and Comb., as cresset-lamp; cresset-stone, a flat stone with cup-shaped hollows for holding grease to be burnt for light. See also cresset-light.
1875Farrar Silence & V. v. 90 The stars its cresset lamps.
▪ II. [cresset
In water cressets, error for water cresses (watercress).
1586T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1589) 669 A poore woman that sold Water cressets [so in ed. 1618]. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Creset, an Herb. ]
▪ III. cresset
obs. var. of kris, Malay dagger. |