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Webster 1913 Edition

Cress

Cress

(krĕs)
,
Noun.
;
pl.
Cresses
(krĕs′ĕz)
.
[OE.
ces
,
cresse
,
kers
,
kerse
, AS.
cresse
,
cerse
; akin to D.
kers
, G.
kresse
, Dan.
karse
, Sw.
krasse
, and possibly also to OHG.
chresan
to creep.]
(Bot.)
A plant of various species, chiefly cruciferous. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, and are used as a salad and antiscorbutic.
☞ The garden cress, called also
peppergrass
, is the
Lepidium sativum
; the water cress is the
Nasturtium officinale
. Various other plants are sometimes called cresses.
To strip the brook with mantling
cresses
spread.
Goldsmith.
Bitter cress
.
See under
Bitter
.
–
Not worth a cress
, or
“not worth a kers.”
a common old proverb, now turned into the meaningless “not worth a curse.”
Skeat.

Webster 1828 Edition

Cress

CRESS

,
Noun.
[G., L.] The name of several species of plants, most of them of the class tetradynamia. Watercresses, of the genus Sisymbrium, are used as a salad, and are valued in medicine for their antiscorbutic qualities. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste. They grow on the brinks of rivulets and in other moist grounds. The word is generally used in the plural.

Definition 2024

cress

cress

English

Cress

Noun

cress ‎(plural cresses)

  1. (plants) A plant of various species, chiefly cruciferous. The leaves have a moderately pungent taste, and are used as a salad and antiscorbutic.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology

Old English cressa, from West Germanic *krasjon-. Cognate with Dutch kers, German Kresse.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kɹɛs/
  • Rhymes: -ɛs

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