- any process or growth on the head of an animal, as a comb or feathered tuft on certain birds
- a plume or emblem, formerly worn on a helmet
- a helmet or its apex
- a heraldic device placed above the shield in a coat of arms, or used separately on seals, silverware, note paper, etc.
- the top of anything, or the line or surface along the top; summit; ridge: the crest of a wave, a mountain crest
- the highest point, level, degree, etc.
- the ridge of the neck of a horse, lion, etc.
- the mane growing on this
- cresting
- a projecting ridge, as along a bone
Origin of crest
Middle English creste from Old French from Classical Latin crista, probably from Indo-European base an unverified form (s)kreis-, to shake from source Middle Irish cressaim, I shake, Old Norse hrista, to shake- to provide or decorate with a crest
- to lie at the top of; crown
- to reach the crest of
- to form a crest, as a wave
- to reach its highest level: the flooding river crested at 30 feet
