Word.ws English Dictionary

cresset

Syllables: cres·set/ˈkɹɛs.ɪt/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

New Zealand/ˈkɹes.ət/

cresset noun: a metal cup, suspended from or attached to the top of a pole and filled with burning pitch etc., used as portable illumination.

cresset: a metal cup, suspended from or attached to the top of a pole and filled with burning pitch etc.,...
Image: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cresset (plural cressets)

  1. (historical) A metal cup, suspended from or attached to the top of a pole and filled with burning pitch etc., used as portable illumination.
    • Of Starry Lamps and blazing Creſſets fed ¶ With Naphtha and Aſphaltus yeilded light1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature...
    • And as a Cresset true that darts its length ¶ Of beamy lustre from a tower of strength;a. 1851, William Wordsworth, “Stanzas suggested in a Steam-boat off St. Bees’ Heads, on the coast of Cumberland”, in Henry [Hope] Reed, editor, The Complete Poetical Works of William Wordsworth...
  2. A small furnace or iron cage to hold fire for charring the inside of a cask, and making the staves flexible.
    • We reach'd the lofty turret's base, our eyes / its height ascended, where we mark'd uphung / two cressets and another saw from far1805–1814, Dante Alighieri, Henry Francis Cary (translator), The Divine Comedy, "Inferno", Canto VIII

Proper noun capitalized: Cresset

Cresset

  1. A surname.

Forms of cresset

pluralcressets

Origin of cresset

Inherited from Middle English cresset, from Old French crasset, cresset (“sort of lamp or torch”); perhaps of Old Dutch or Old High German origin, and akin to English cruse and/or French creuset (“crucible”), the latter being from Gallo-Roman Vulgar Latin *croceolus.

Questions about cresset

What does cresset mean?
Cresset means a metal cup, suspended from or attached to the top of a pole and filled with burning pitch etc., used as portable illumination.
What part of speech is cresset?
Cresset can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce cresset?
Cresset is pronounced /ˈkɹɛs.ɪt/ (UK).
What is the plural of cresset?
The plural of cresset is cressets.

Words near cresset in the dictionary

  1. Cressbrook
  2. cressed
  3. cresselle
  4. cresselles
  5. cresses
  6. cresset
  7. cressets
  8. Cressey
  9. Cresseys
  10. cressid
  11. Cressida

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cresset (page history and authors); Cresset (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cresset.wav.

Cite this entry: “cresset.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cresset. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.