cresset

American  

[kres-it] / ˈkrɛs ɪt /

noun

1. a metal cup or basket often mounted on a pole or suspended from above, containing oil, pitch, a rope steeped in rosin, etc., burned as a light or beacon.

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cresset British  

/ ˈkrɛsɪt /

noun

1. history a metal basket mounted on a pole in which oil or pitch was burned for illumination

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Etymology

Origin of cresset

1325–75; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French craisset, equivalent to cras grease + -et -et

Example Sentences

The candle in the cresset still burned dimly, but the lack of windows in the stone walls made it impossible to tell whether it was dawn or the middle of the night.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Candlelight from the cresset over the great bed threw the faintest flicker of brown light over the stones.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

Suspended from the ceiling was a cresset, and from the cresset hung curtains of silk around the bed.

From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz

At Lewannick, west of Lezant, a cresset stone has been preserved.

From Nooks and Corners of Cornwall by Scott, C. A. Dawson

"Be a wee canny with the next Whig ye catch, for the sake of your ain bonny Whiggie, Jean Cochrane!" cried Roger McGhie of Balmaghie, holding the cresset high above his head.

From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)