Word.ws English Dictionary

cressets

cressets is the plural of cresset.

Meaning of cresset

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...
  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

See all 3 meanings of cresset

Questions about cressets

What is cressets the plural of?
Cressets is the plural of cresset.

Words near cressets in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cressets (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.

Last updated:

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