The queen of night, whose large command In high spring-tides, at midnight reigns. Hudib. 3. Weak; feeble; shattered. Physick can but mend our crazy state; Patch an old building, not a new create. Dryd Were it possible that the near approaches of eternity, whether by a mature age, a crazy constitution, or a violent sickness, should amaze so many, had they truly considered? Wake. CREAGHT. n. 5. [An Irish word.] In these fast places, they kept their creaghts, or herds of cattle; living by the milk of the. cow, without husbandry or tillage. Davies. To CREAGHT. V. n. It was made penal to the English to permit the Irish to creaght or graze upon their lands, or present them to ecclesiastical benefices. Davies. To CREAK. v. n. [corrupted from crack.] 1. To make a harsh protracted noise. Let not the creaking of shoes, nor the rustling of silks, betray thy poor heart to women. Shakspeare's King Lear. No door there was th' unguarded house to keep, Oncreaking hinges turn'd, to break his sleep. Dry. 2. It is sometimes used of animals. The creaking locusts with my voice conspire; They fried with heat, and I with fierce desire. Dryden. CREAM. n. s. [cremor, Latin.] 1. The unctuous or oily part of milk, which, when it is cold, floats on the top, and is changed by the agitation of the churn into butter; the flower of milk. "T is not your inky brows, your black silk hair, Your bugle eye-balls, nor your cheek of cream, That can entame my spirits to your worship. Shakspeare. I am as vigilant, as a cat to steal cream. Shaks. Cream is matured and made to rise speedily, by putting in cold water; which, as it seemeth, getteth down the whey. Bacon's Nat. Hist. How the drudging goblin swet, To earn his cream-bowl duly set; When in one night, ere glimpse of morn, His shadowy flail hath thresh'd the corn. Milt. Let your various creams incircled be With swelling fruit, just ravish'd from the tree. King Milk, standing some time, naturally separates into an oily liquor called cream; and a thinner, blue, and more ponderous liquor, called skim med milk. Arbuthnot on Aliments. 2. It is used for the best part of any thing as, the cream of a jest. To CREAM. v. a. [from the noun.] 1. To skim off the cream. 2. To take the flower and quintessence of any thing: so used somewhere by Savift. To CREAM. v. n. To gather cream. There are a sort of men, whose visages Do cream and mantle like a standing pond; And do a wilful stiffness entertain, With purpose to be drest in an opinion Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit. Shaksp. CREAM-FACED. adj. [cream and face.] Pale; coward-looking, Thou cream-fac'd lown, Where got'st thou that goose-look? Shakspeare. CREAMY. adj. [from cream.] Full of cream; having the nature of cream. CRE' ANCE. n. s. [French.] In falconry, a fine small line, fastened to a hawk's Icash when she is first lured. CREASE. . . [from creta, Latin, chalk. Skinner.] A mark made by doubling any thing. Men of great parts are unfortunate in business, because they go out of the common road: I once desired lord Bolingbroke to observe, that the clerks used an ivory knife, with a blunt edge, to divide paper, which cut it even, only requiring a strong hand; whereas a sharp penknife would go out of the crease, and disfigure the paper. Swift, To CREASE. v. a. [from the noun.] To mark any thing by doubling it, so as to leave the impression. To CREATE. v. a. [creo, Latin.] 1. To form out of nothing; to cause to exist. 2. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Gencis We having but imperfect ideas of the oper tions of our minds, and much imperfecter yet of the operations of God, run into great difficulties about free created agents, which reason cannot Locke. well extricate itself out of. To produce; to cause; to be the ce casion of. Now is the time of help: your eye in Scotland Would create soldiers, and make women fight. Shakspeare. His abilities were prone to create in him great confidence of undertakings, and this was like enough to betray him to great errours and many King Charles. enemies. They eclipse the clearest truths by difficulties of their own creating, or no man could miss his way to heaven for want of light: Decay of Pitty. None knew, till guilt created fear, What darts or poison'd arrows were. Roscommon. Must I new bars to my own joy create, Refuse myself what I had forc'd from fate? Dryden's Aurengzebe. Long abstinence is troublesome to acid con stitutions, by the uneasiness it creates in the sto mach. Arbuthnot. 4. To invest with any new character. 5. Arise, my knights o'th' battle: 1 create you Companions to our person, and will fit you With dignities becoming your estates. Shaks. To give any new qualities; to put any thing in a new state, The best British undertaker had but a propor tion of three thousand acres for himself, with power to create a manor, and hold a court-baron. Davies on Ireland. CREATION. n. s. [from create.] 1. The act of creating, or conferring ex. istence. Consider the immensity of the Divine Love, expressed in all the emanations of his providence; in his creation, in his conservation of us. Taylor. 2. The act of investing with new quali ties or character: as, the creation of peers. 3. The things created; the universe. As subjects then the whole creation came, And from their natures Adam them did name. Denbas Such was the saint, who shone with ev'ry grace, Reflecting, Moses-like, his master's face: God saw his image lively was express'd, And his own work as his creation bless'd. Dryden's Fable. Nor could the tender new creation bear Th' excessive heats or coldness of the year. Dryden's Virgil. In days of yore, no matter where or when, Before the low creation swarm'd with men. Parnel 4. Any thing produced, or caused. Of all his works, creative beauty burns Thomson's Spring. 2. Exerting the act of creation. To trace the outgoings of the ancient of days in the first instance, and of his creative power, is a research too great for mortal enquiry. South. CREATOR. n. s. [creator, Latin.] The being that bestows existence. Open, ye heavens, your living doors: let in The great Creator, from his work return'd Magnificent; his six days work, a world. Milt. When you lie down, close your eyes with a short prayer, commit yourself into the hands of your faithful Creator: and when you have done, trust him with yourself, as you must do when you are dying. Taylor's Guide to Devotion. CREATURE. n. s. [creatura, low Latin.] J. A being not self-existent, but created by the supreme power. Were these persons idolaters for the worship they did not give to the Creator, or for the worship they did give to his creatures? Stilling fleet. 2. Any thing created. God's first creature was light. Bacon. Imperfect the world, and all the creatures in it, must be acknowledged in many respects to be. Tillotson. 3. An animal, not human. The queen pretended satisfaction of her knowledge only in killing creatures vile, as cats and dogs. Shakspeare's Cymbeline. 4. A general term for man. Yet crime in her could never creature find; But for his love, and for her own self sake, She wander'd had from one to other Ind. Spens. Most cursed of all creatures under sky, Lo, Tantalus, I here tormented lie! Spenser. Tho' he might burst his lungs to call for help, No creature would assist or pity him. Roscom. 5. A word of contempt for a human being. Hence; home, you idle creatures, get you home; Is this a holiday? Shakspeare's Julius Cæsar. He would into the stews, And from the common creatures pluck a glove, And wear it as a favour. Shaks. Richard 11. I've heard that guilty creatures at a play, Have, by the very cunning of the scene, Been struck so to the soul, that presently They have proclaim'd their malefactions. Shakspeare's Hamlet. Nor think to night of thy ill nature, But of thy follies, idle creature. Prior. A good poet no sooner communicates his works, but it is imagined he is a vain young crea ture, given up to the ambition of fame. 6. A word of petty tenderness. Pope. And then, sir, would he gripe and wring my hand; Cry, Oh sweet creature and then kiss me hard. Shakspeare. Ah, cruel creature! whom dost thou despise? The gods, to live in woods, have left the skies. Dryden's Virgil. Some young creatures have learnt their letters and syllables by having them pasted upon little tablets. Watts. `7. A person who owes his rise or his fortune to another. He sent to colonel Massey to send him men; which he, being a creature of Essex's, refused. Clarendon, The duke's creature he desired to be esteemed. Clarendon. Great princes thus, when favourites they raise, To justify their grace, their creatures praise. Dryden. The design was discovered by a person whom every man knows to be the creature of a certain great man. Swift. CREATURELY. adj. [from creature.] Having the qualities of a creature. The several parts of relatives, or creaturely infinites, may have finite proportions to one another. Cheyne's Philosophical Principles. CRE BRITUDE. n. s. [from ereber, frequent, Latin.] Frequentness. Dict. CRE'BROUS. adj. [from creber, Latin.] Frequent. Dict. CRE'DENCE. n. s. [from credo, Latin; credence, Norman French.] Belief; credit. I. Ne let it seem that credence this exceeds: For he that made the same was known right well To have done much more admirable deeds; It Merlin was. Love and wisdom, Approv'd so to your majesty, may plead For ample credence. Spencer. Shakspeare. They did not only underhand give out that this was the true carl; but the friar, finding some credence in the people, took boldness in the pulpit to declare as much. Bacon. 2. That which gives a claim to credit or belief. After they had delivered to the king their letters of credence, they were led to a chamber richly furnished. Hayward. CREDENDA. n. s. [Latin.] Things to be believed; articles of faith: distinguished in theology from agenda, or practical duties. These were the great articles and credends of christianity, that so much startled the world. South. CRE'DENT. adj. [credens, Latin.] 1. Believing; easy of belief. Then weigh what loss your honour may sustain, If with too credent ear you list' his songs. Shaks. 2. Having credit; not to be questioned. Less proper. My authority bears a credent bulk, That no particular scandal once can touch But it confounds the breather. Shakspeare. CREDENTIAL. n. s. [from credens, Lat.] That which gives a title to credit; the warrant upon which belief or authority is claimed. A few persons of an odious and despised country could not have filled the world with believers, had they not shown undoubted credentials from the Divine Person who sent them on such a message. Addison on the Christian Relig. CREDIBILITY. n. s. [from credible.} Claim to credit; possibility of obtaining belief; probability. The first of those opiniona I shall shew to be altogether incredible, and the latter to have all the credibility and evidence of which a thing of that nature is capable. Tillotson. Calculate the several degrees of credibility and conviction, by which the one evidence surpassAtterbury. eth the other. CREDIBLE. adj. [credibilis, Lat.] Worthy of credit; deserving of belief; having a just claim to belief. The ground of credit is the credibility of things credited; and things are made credible, either by the known condition and quality of the utterer, or by the manifest likelihood of truth in themselves. Hooker. None can demonstrate to me, that there is such an island as Jamaica; yet, upon the testimony of credible persons, I am free from doubt. Tillution. CREDIBLENESS. n. s. [from credible.] Credibility; worthiness of belief; just claim to belief. The credibleness of a good part of these narratives has been confirmed to me by a practiser of physick. Boyle. CREDIBLY. adv. [from credible.] manner that claims belief. In a This, with the loss of so few of the English as is scarce credible; being, as hath been rather confidently than credibly reported, but of one man, though not a few hurt. CREDIT. n. s. [credit, French.] . Belief; faith yielded to another. When the people heard these words, they gave no credit unto them, nor received them. 1 Maccabees. I may give credit to reports. Addison's Spect. Some secret truths, from learned pride conceal'd, To maids alone and children are reveal'd. What though no credit doubting wits may give? The fair and innocent shall still believe." "Pope. 2. Honour; reputation. I published, because I was told I might please such as it was a credit to please. Pope. 3. Esteem; good opinion. There is no decaying merchant, or inward beggar, hath so many tricks to uphold the credit of their wealth, as these empty persons have to maintain the credit of their sufficiency. Bacon. His learning, though a poet said it, Before a play, would lose no credit. Swift. Yes; while I live, no rich or noble knave Shall walk the world in credit to his grave. Pope. 4. Faith ; testimony; that which procures belief. We are contented to take this upon your creHooker. dit, and to think it may be. The things which we properly believe, be only such as are received upon the credit of divine Hooker. testimony. The author would have done well to have left so great a paradox only to the credit of a single Locke. assertion. 5. Trust reposed, with regard to property: correlative to debt. Locke. Credit is nothing but the expectation of money within some limited time. 6. Promise given. They have never thought of violating the publick credit, or of alienating the revenues to other uses than to what they have been thus assigned. Addison. . Influence; power not compulsive ;-in They sent him likewise a copy of their sup plication to the king, and desired him to use his credit that a treaty might be entered into. Clarendon, Having credit enough with his master to pro vide for his own interest, he troubled not himself for that of other men. Clarendon. To CREʼDIT. v. a. [credo, Latin.] 1. To believe. Now I change my mind, And partly credit things that do presage. Shah. To credit the unintelligibility both of this union and motion, we need no more than to consider it. Glanville. 2. To procure credit or honour to any thing. May here her monument stand so, Waller. It was not upon design to credit these papers, nor to compliment a society so much above fattery. Glanville, At present you credit the church as much by your government as you did the school formerly by your wit. 3. To trust; to confide in. 4. To admit as a debtor. CREDITABLE. adj. [from credit.] 1. Reputable; above contempt. South. He settled him in a good creditable way of liv ing, having procured him by his interest one of the best places of the country. Arbuthnet. 2. Honourable; estimable. The contemplation of things that do not serve to promote our happiness, is but a more specious sort of idleness, a more pardonable and creditable kind of ignorance. Tillation. CREDITABLENESS. n. s. [from creditable.] Reputation; estimation. Among all these snares, there is none more entangling than the creditableners and repute of customary vices. Decay of Piety. CRE'DITABLY. adv. [from creditabk.] Reputably; without disgrace. Many will chuse rather to neglect their duty safely and creditably; than to get a broken pate in the church's service, only to be rewarded with that which will break their hearts too. South. CREDITOR. n. s. [creditor, Latin.]· 1. He to whom a debt is owed; he that gives credit: correlative to debtor. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot chuse but break. Shakspeare. I am so used to consider myself as creditor and debtor, that I often state my accounts after the same manner with regard to heaven and my own soul. Addison's Spectater. No man of honour, as that word is usually understood, did ever pretend that his honour obliged him to be chaste or temperate, to pay ha creditors, to be useful to his country, to do good to mankind, to endeavour to be wise or learned, to regard his word, his promise, or kis oath. Swift 2. One who credits, one who believes Not used. Many sought to feed The easy creditors of novelties By voicing him alive. Shakspeare. CREDU'LITY, n. s. [credulité, Fr. creda litas, Lat.] Easiness of belief; readi ness of credit. The poor Plangus, being subject to that only disadvantage of honest hearts, credulity, was per Sidney suaded by him. The prejudice of credulity may, in some mea- A credulous father, and a brother noble, Milton. CREDULOUSNESS. n. s. [from credulous.] 2. To grow along the ground, or on other supports. The grottos cool, with shady poplars crown'd, And creeping vines on harbours weav'd around." Dryden 3. To move forward without bounds or leaps, as insects. 4. To move slowly and feebly. Unmindful? Hapless they, T'whom thou untry'd seem'st fair! Aptness to believe; credulity. CREED. n. s. [from credo, the first word of the apostles creed.] 5. 1. A form of words in which the articles of faith are comprehended. The larger and fuller view of this foundation is set down in the creeds of the church. Hammond on Fundamentals. Will they, who decry creeds and creedmakers, say that one who writes a treatise of morality ought not to make in it any collection of moral Fiddes's Sermons. precepts? 2. Any solemn profession of principles or opinion. For me, my lords, I love him not, nor fear him; there's my creed. Shall I stay here, I. A prominence or jut in a winding 2. A small port; a bay; a cove. Milton. A law was made here to stop their passage in Davies on Ireland. every port and creek. 3. Any turn, or alley. A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper; one that commands the passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands. Shakspeare. CREEKY. adj. [from creek.] Full of creeks; unequal; winding. Who, leaning on the belly of a pot, The earth; and stately tread, or lowly creep! And every creeping thing that creeps the If they cannot distinguish creeping from flying, let them lay down Virgil, and take up Ovid De Pente. Dryden. To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, To move secretly and clandestinely. -There they always use to discharge their birding-pieces; creep into the kiln-hole. Shaksp Whate'er you are, That in this desart inaccessible, Under the shade of melancholy boughs Shakspeare Of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women. 2 Timothy. Thou makest darkness,and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. Psalms. Now and then a work or two has crept in, to keep his first design in countenance. Atterbury. 6. To move timorously without soaring, or venturing into dangers. Paradise Lost is admirable; but am I therefore bound to maintain, that there are no flats amongst his elevations, when it is evident he creeps along sometimes for above an hundred lines together? Dryden. We here took a little boat, to creep along the sea-shore as far as Genoa. Addison on Italy. 7. To come unexpected; to steal forward unheard and unseen. By those gifts of nature and fortune he creeps, nay he flies, into the favour of poor silly women. Sidney It seems, the marriage of his brother's wife' Shakspeare It is not to be expected that every one should guard his understanding from being imposed on by the sophistry which creeps into most of the books of argument. Locke 8. To behave with servility; to fawn; to bend. They were us'd to bend, To send their smiles before them, to Achilles 1. A plant that supports itself by means of Plants that put forth their sap hastily have bodies not proportionable to their length; there fore they are winders or creepers, as ivy, briony, and woodbine. Bacon. 2. An iron used to slide along the grate in kitchens. 3. A kind of patten or clog worn by women. CREEPHOLE. n. s. [creep and hole.] 1. A hole into which any animal may creep to escape danger. 2. A subterfuge; an excuse. CREEPINGLY, adv. [from creeping.] Slowly; after the manner of a reptile. The joy, which wrought into Pygmalion's mind, was even such as, by each degree of Zelmane's words, creepingly entered into Philoclea's. Sidney. CREE'PLE. n. s. [from creep.] A lame person; a cripple. She to whom this world must itself refer As suburbs or the microcosm of her, She, she is dead, she 's dead; when thou know'st this, Thou know'st how lame a creeple this world is. Donne. CREMATION. H. s. [crematio, Latin.] A burning. CRE'MOR. n. s. [Latin.] A milky substance; a soft liquor resembling cream. The food is swallowed into the stomach; where, mingled with dissolvent juices, it is reduced into a chyle or cremor. Ray. CRE'NATED. adj. [from crena, Latin.] Notched; indented. The cells are prettily crenated, or notched, quite round the edges; but not straited down to any depth. Woodward. CRE PANE. n. s. [With farriers.] An ulcer seated in the midst of the forepart of the foot. Farrier's Dict. To CREPITATE. v. n. [crepito, Lat.] To make a small crackling noise. CREPITATION. n. s. [from crepitate.] A small crackling noise. CREPT. The participle of creep. There are certain men crept in unawares. Jude. This fair vine, but that her arms surround Her married elm, had crept along the ground. Pope. CREPUSCULE. n. s. [crepusculum, Lat.] Twilight. CREPUSCULOvs. adj. [crepusculum, Lat.] Glimmering; in a state between light and darkness. Dict. A close apprehension of the one might perhaps afford a glimmering light and crepusculous glance of the other. Brown. The beginnings of philosophy were in a crepusculous obscurity, and it is yet scarce past the dawn. Glanville's Scepsis. CRE'SCENT. adj. [from cresco, Latin.] Increasing; growing; in a state of in crease. I have seen him in Britain: he was then of a crescent note. Shakspeare's Cymbeline. With these in troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians call'd Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns. Milton. CRE'SCENT. n. s. [crescens, Lat.] The moon in her state of increase; any similitude of the moon increasing. My pow'r 's a crescent, and my auguring hope Says it will come to th' full, Shakspeare. Ör Bactrian sophy, from the horns Of Turkish crescent, leaves all waste beyond The realm of Aladule, in his retreat. Milton. Jove in dusky clouds involves the skies, And the faint crescent shoots by fits before their eyes. Dryden. And two fair crescents of translucent horn The brows of all their young increase adorn. Pope's Odyssey CRE'SCIVE. adj. [from cresco, Latin. ] In creasing; growing. So the prince obscur'd his contemplation Under the veil of wildness: which, no doubt, Grew, like the summer grass, fastest by night; Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty. Shakspear. CRESS. n. s. [perhaps from cresco, it be ing a quick grower; nasturtium, Lat.] An herb. Its flower consists of four leaves, placed in form of a cross; the pointal arises from the cen tre of the flower-cup, and becomes a roundish smooth fruit, divided into two cells, and fur nished with seeds generally smooth. Miller. His court with nettles and with cresses stor'd; With soups unbought, and sallads, blest his board. Pope. CRE'SSET. n. s. [croissette, Fr. because beacons had crosses anciently on their tops.] A great light set upon a beacon, lighthouse, or watchtower. Hanmer. They still raise armies in Scotland by carrying about the fire-cross. At my nativity The front of heav'n was full of firy sparks, Pendent by subtle magick, many a row His valour, shewn upon our crests to-day, Has taught us how to cherish such high deeds, Ev'n in the bosom of our adversaries. Sheksp. 2. The comb of a cock: whence Milton calls him crested. Others on ground Walk'd firm; the crested cock, whose clarion sounds The silent hours. Milton's Paradise Lost. 3. The ornament of the helmet in he raldry. Of what esteem crests were, in the time of king Edward the Third's reign, may appear by his giving an eagle, which he himself had formerly born, for a crest to William Montacute, earl of Salisbury. Camden's Remains. The horn; Shakspeare. It was a crest ere thou wast born: Thy father's father wore it. 4. Any tuft or ornament on the head, as some which the poets assign to serpents. 5. Their crests divide, And, tow'ring o'er his head, in triumph ride. Dryden's Virgil. Pride; spirit; fire; courage; loftiness of mien. When horses should endure the bloody spur, They fall their trests. Shakspeare. CRE'STED. adj. [from crest; cristatus, Latin.] 1. Adorned with a plume or crest. The bold Ascalonites Then grov'ling soil'd their crested helmets in the dust. Milton At this, for new replies he did not stay; But lac'd his crested helm, and strode away. Dryden |