cress

[ kres ]

/ krɛs /

noun

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

any of various similar plants.

Nearby words

Origin of cress

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

Related formscress·y, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cress

Always serve either cream or tomato sauce with croquettes and cutlets and garnish them with parsley or cress.
Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book|Mary A. Wilson
It was, therefore, most desirable to devise a method of ridding the bed of algal growth without injuring the cress.
The Home Medical Library, Volume V (of VI)|Various
The cress plants are then not tall, as they are later, but short and bushy.
The Naturalist on the Thames|C. J. Cornish
Name from , applied by Dioscorides to some cress; meaning unknown.
The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States|Asa Gray

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

British Dictionary definitions for cress

cress

/ (krɛs) /

noun

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

Word Origin for cress

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

Word Origin and History for cress

cress

Old English cresse, originally cærse, from Proto-Germanic *krasjon- (cf. Middle Low German kerse, karse; Middle Dutch kersse; Old High German kresso, German Kresse), from PIE root *gras- "to devour" (see gastric). It underwent a metathesis similar to that of grass. French cresson, Italian crescione are Germanic loan-words.