cress

[ kres ]

noun
  1. any of various plants of the mustard family, especially the watercress, having pungent-tasting leaves often used for salad and as a garnish.

  2. any of various similar plants.

Origin of cress

1
before 900; Middle English cresse,Old English cress(a), cresse; cognate with Dutch kers,German Kresse

Other words from cress

  • cressy, adjective

Words Nearby cress

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cress in a sentence

  • In other words, the thale cress’s DNA had to fight harder to adapt to the foreign soil gathered during the Apollo 11 mission.

  • This romantic little creature took such hold of my imagination that I cannot eat water-cress even now without emotion.

    Margaret Ogilvy | J. M. Barrie
  • But as long as we have people like young cress or Hodge or Rottke—well, it's hard to do anything with them.

    What Rough Beast? | Jefferson Highe
  • He crowned himself and Jim with wreaths made of water cress that he found on a tiny sandy beach.

    Still Jim | Honor Willsie Morrow
  • Then there is a salmon salad encircled by water cress or nasturtium leaves, and at intervals, dainty mounds of potato salad.

    Suppers | Paul Pierce

British Dictionary definitions for cress

cress

/ (krɛs) /


noun
  1. any of various plants of the genera Lepidium, Cardamine, Arabis, etc, having pungent-tasting leaves often used in salads and as a garnish: family Brassicaceae (crucifers): See also watercress, garden cress

Origin of cress

1
Old English cressa; related to Old High German cresso cress, kresan to crawl

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012