Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The yellowish fatty component of unhomogenized milk that tends to accumulate at the surface.
  • noun Any of various substances resembling or containing cream.
  • noun A pale yellow to yellowish white.
  • noun The choicest part.
  • intransitive verb To form cream.
  • intransitive verb To form foam or froth at the top.
  • intransitive verb To have an orgasm.
  • intransitive verb To be excited or delighted about something.
  • intransitive verb To remove the cream from; skim.
  • intransitive verb To take or remove (the best part).
  • intransitive verb To take the best part from.
  • intransitive verb To beat into a creamy consistency.
  • intransitive verb To prepare or cook in or with a cream sauce.
  • intransitive verb To add cream to.
  • intransitive verb To defeat overwhelmingly.
  • intransitive verb To damage severely; destroy.
  • intransitive verb Vulgar Slang To have an orgasm in (one's pants, for example).
  • idiom (cream (one's) jeans/panties) To be excited or delighted about something.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An obsolete variant of chrism.
  • A dialectal variant of crim.
  • noun Same as crame.
  • To work and beat until it becomes smooth and light, forming a creamy mass. Butter is often so treated before it is mixed with other ingredients.
  • In cookery generally, to prepare in a cream sauce (chicken, oysters, etc.): frequently for use as filling for molds of puff-paste or of bread.
  • noun The richer and butyraceous part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated in a cool place, rises and forms an oily or viscid scum on the surface; hence, in general, any part of a liquor that separates from the rest, rises, and collects on the surface. By agitating the cream of milk, butter is formed.
  • noun Something resembling cream; any liquid or soft paste of the consistency of cream: as, the cream of ale; shaving-cream.
  • noun In shot-making, a spongy crust of oxid taken from the surface of the lead, and used to coat over the bottom of the colander, to keep the lead from running too rapidly through the holes.
  • noun The best part of a thing; the choice part; the quintessence: as, the cream of a jest or story.
  • noun A sweetmeat or dish prepared from cream, or of such consistency as to resemble cream: as, an iced cream, or ice-cream; a chocolate cream.
  • noun A name given to certain cordials because of their thick (viscid) consistency, with perhaps some reference to their reputed excellence.
  • To take the cream from by skimming; skim: as, to cream milk.
  • To remove the quintessence or best part of.
  • To add cream to, as tea or coffee.
  • To form a layer of cream upon the surface: become covered with a scum of any kind; froth; mantle.
  • To rise like cream.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To form or become covered with cream; to become thick like cream; to assume the appearance of cream; hence, to grow stiff or formal; to mantle.
  • transitive verb To skim, or take off by skimming, as cream.
  • transitive verb To take off the best or choicest part of.
  • transitive verb To furnish with, or as with, cream.
  • transitive verb (Cooking) to rub, stir, or beat, butter till it is of a light creamy consistency.
  • noun The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is obtained.
  • noun rare The part of any liquor that rises, and collects on the surface.
  • noun A delicacy of several kinds prepared for the table from cream, etc., or so as to resemble cream.
  • noun A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.
  • noun The best or choicest part of a thing; the quintessence.
  • noun a preparation of gelatin, cream, sugar, and eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold.
  • noun an ointment made of white wax, almond oil, rose water, and borax, and used as a salve for the hands and lips.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English creme, from Old French craime (from Late Latin crāmum, of Celtic origin) and from Old French cresme (from Latin chrīsma, an anointing, from Greek khrīsma, unguent, from khrīein, to anoint; see ghrēi- in Indo-European roots).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English creime, creme, from Anglo-Norman creme, cresme (compare French crème), blend of Late Latin chrisma 'ointment' (from Ancient Greek χρῖσμα (chrisma) 'unguent'), and Late Latin crāmum 'skim', from Gaulish *crama (compare Welsh cramen 'scab, skin', Breton crammen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krama- (compare Middle Irish screm 'surface, skin', Dutch schram 'abrasion', Lithuanian kramas 'scurf'). Replaced Old English ream. Figurative sense of "most excellent element or part" appears from 1581. Verb meaning "to beat, thrash, wreck" is 1929, U.S. colloquial. The U.S. standard of identity is from 21 CFR 131.3(a).

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