crescent

views updated May 17 2018

cres·cent / ˈkresənt/ • n. 1. the curved sickle shape of the waxing or waning moon. ∎  a representation of such a shape used as an emblem of Islam or Turkey. ∎  (the Crescent) chiefly hist. the political power of Islam or the Ottoman Empire. 2. a thing that has the shape of a single curve, esp. one that is broad in the center and tapers to a point. • adj. 1. in the shape of a crescent. 2. poetic/lit. growing, increasing, or developing.DERIVATIVES: cres·cen·tic / krəˈsentik/ adj.ORIGIN: late Middle English cressant, from Old French creissant, from Latin crescere ‘grow.’

crescent

views updated May 23 2018

crescent.
1. Building or series of buildings of which the frontage stands in plan on the concave arc of a circle or of an ellipse, generally facing a garden or promenade. The earliest examples are the Royal Crescent, Bath (1767–75), by Wood the Younger, and the semicircular Crescent at Buxton, Derbys. (1780–90), by Carr of York. Camden Crescent (c.1788) by John Eveleigh (fl. 1756–1800) and Lansdown Crescent (1789–93) by John Palmer (c.1738–1817), both in Bath, are two further examples of a type of development that became common in C19. A range of buildings with the front on a convex arch is called a quadrant.

2. Type of arch, also called a horseshoe-arch.

crescent

views updated May 21 2018

crescent the curved sickle shape of the waxing or waning moon; in heraldry, the representation of this as a charge or a cadence mark for a second son in England.
The Crescent symbolizes the political power of Islam or of the Ottoman Empire.
Crescent City a name for New Orleans, which is built on a curve of the Mississippi.

crescent

views updated May 21 2018

crescent figure as of the waxing moon XIV; row of buildings in an arc XVIII. ME. cressa(u)nt — AN. cressaunt, OF. creissant (mod. croissant) :- L. crēscēns, -ent-, prp. of crēscere grow, INCREASE. In XVII assim. to the L. form, which was already current in crescent adj. XVI. See -ENT.

crescent

views updated May 18 2018

crescent Symbol of the Moon in its first quarter. It has been associated with Islam since the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in 1453. It appears on the Turkish standard and other Islamic nation flags.

crescent

views updated May 23 2018

crescent. Turkish instr. comprising small bells hung from an inverted crescent. Also known as ‘Jingling Johnny’.

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