Forms: 4 creym(e, creem, craym, 5 creme, kreme, 5–6 crayme, 6–7 creame, 7– cream. [ME. creme, creem, creyme, a. F. crème, in OF. cresme fem., Pr. cresma, a popular application of cresme chrism (see prec.), with change of gender after L. words in a.
Both words were in OF. cresme, later creme; according to Beza, they were in 16th c. distinguished in pronunciation as le crême, la créme; they are now distinguished in spelling as le chrême, la crème, but pronounced identically crêm’. (By etymological conjecture crème, cream, was in 16th c. referred to L. cremor (see CREMOR), and latinized as cremor lactis, crema lactis.)]
1. The oily or butyraceous part of milk, which gathers on the top when the milk is left undisturbed; by churning it is converted into butter.
Clotted or clouted cream, known also locally as Devonshire, Somersetshire cream, etc.: see CLOUTED.
1332. Creyme [in Rogers, Agric. & Prices, I. 404].
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 269. A fewe Cruddes and Craym [B. VI. 284 creem, C. IX. 306 creyme].
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 95. Al þe creem and fatnesse of þat mylke.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 101. Creme of mylke, quaccum.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, 81, in Babees Bk. (1868), 123. Bewar at eve of crayme of cowe.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 122. Yf thou haue no honny take swete creame.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, xii. (1870), 267. Clowtyd crayme and rawe crayme put togyther.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 314. We see Cream is Matured, and made to rise more speedily by putting in cold Water.
1778. Love Feast, 33. With wheezing Whistle [He] whisks up his whipt Cream.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess., Manners, Wks. (Bohn), I. 208. A new class finds itself at the top, as certainly as cream rises in a bowl of milk.
1889. Boy’s Own Paper, 10 Aug., 714/3. Smearing both with Devonshire cream and with honey.
fig. a. 1657. Sir J. Balfour, Ann. Scot. (1824–5), II. 262. Notwithstanding of all this faire wether and sueet creame intendit by the courte.
1661. A. Wright, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. cxvii. 2. This turns all that a man hath to cream.
2. transf. a. A fancy dish or sweet of which cream is an ingredient, or which has the appearance and consistency of cream, as almond, chocolate, iced cream, etc.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 7. Fride Creme of Almaundys.—Take almaundys, an stampe hem, an draw it vp wyth a fyne thykke mylke … gadere alle þe kreme in þe clothe.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 347. From sweet kernels prest She tempers dulcet creams.
1751. [see ALMOND 10].
1831. Cat’s Tail, 29. The creams were not iced.
1836. T. Hook, G. Gurney (L.). The remnants of a devoured feast … creams half demolished—jellies in trembling lumps.
† b. A substance or liquor of cream-like consistency; esp. a decoction (of barley, etc.): cf. CREMOR. Obs.
1545. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, 116. Skum or creme of the eyes.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 119. Till the meate bee perfectly chaunged and boyled into a moyst and liquid Creame.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 49. Indian Maiz … must be thoroughly boyled, and made into a Maiz-Creame like a Barley-Creame.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., I. xi. 24. To change the acid Cream brought out of the Stomach, forthwith into a brackish Salt.
c. The part of a liquid which gathers on the top like the cream on milk; a ‘head’ of scum, froth, etc.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric., vii. § 12 (1681), 141. Let the Vessel not be quite full, that there may be room for the Cider to gather a Head or Cream.
a. 1672. E. Montague, trans. Barra’s Art of Mettals, II. xii. (1674), 38. Let it stand awhile, and if there arise a scum or cream, that is gross, or oily, scum it off.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. clxxviii. The cream of your champagne.
d. A cream-like preparation used cosmetically. See also COLD CREAM.
1765. Goldsm., Double Transform., 85. In vain she tries her paste and creams To smooth her face or hide its seams.
1810. Russell, To a Lady, in Poet. Reg., 139. A pot of cold cream to Eliza you send … Whoe’er with this cream shall her countenance smear, All redness and roughness will strait disappear.
e. Used in the names of some cordials and liqueurs, with reference to their viscid character, or acknowledged excellence; cream of the valley, of the wilderness, fancy names applied to gin.
1858. Mayhew, Paved with Gold, I. 1 (Farmer). What’s up, Jim?… is it cream of the walley or fits as has overcome the lady?
1873. St. Paul’s Mag., II. 10. It’s so jolly cold, I shall just buy some Cream of the Wilderness for mother.
3. fig. The most excellent element or part; the best of its kind; the choice part; the quintessence.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxxix. (1887), 197. The gentlemen, which be the creame of the common.
1621–51. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. iv. I. 215. I say of our Melancholy man, he is the cream of humane adversity.
1632. Massinger, City Madam, I. i. The cream o’ the market.
1688. Bunyan, Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886), 18. These therefore must have the cream of the gospel, namely, the first offer thereof in His lifetime.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., IV. The inside of the letter, is always the cream of the correspondence.
1824. Byron, Juan, XV. xli. An only daughter, Who seem’d the cream of equanimity.
1862. Sala, Seven Sons, I. iv. 65. Receiving the cream of society, but never returning visits.
1890. Sat. Rev., Feb., 145/2. Flight-shooting at duck is the very cream of wild-fowl shooting.
4. Cream of tartar: the purified and crystallized bitartrate of potassium, used in medicine and for various technical purposes.
1662. R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., § 101. The Cream of Tartar is … to be had at any Druggist.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Cream of Tartar, is made of Tartar, or dry Wine-lees.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 287. Tartar, or Cream of Tartar as it is commonly called when pure.
1882. Syd. Soc. Lex., Cream of tartar whey, two drachms of bitartrate of potash are added to a pint of milk. The whey, diluted with water, is used as a diuretic in dropsy.
b. Cream of tartar tree: a tree of Northern Australia, Adansonia Gregorii: see quot. The name is also given to the allied Baobab, whence Cream of tartar fruit, the fruit of the Baobab.
1866. Treas. Bot., 18/1. Adansonia Gregorii … is a native of the sandy plains of N. Australia, and is known as Sour gourd and Cream of tartar tree…. The pulp of its fruit has an agreeable acid taste, like cream of tartar, and is peculiarly refreshing in the sultry climates where the tree is found.
5. Cream of lime: pure slaked lime.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), IV. 154. Mild calcareous earth, convertable, by a second calcination, into quick-lime, is called the cream of lime.
1828. Webster cites Encycl., Cream of lime, the scum of lime water.
1871. Tyndall, Frag. Sc., xi. 341. Reservoirs … containing pure slaked lime—the so-called ‘cream of lime.’
6. simple attrib. or adj. Cream-colored, yellowish white.
1861. Times, 3 Oct., 7/6. A cream mare, Eliza, a single act horse, fetched 50 guineas.
1887. The Lady, 20 Jan., 38/1. Trimmed with cream lace.
b. ellipt. Cream color; also, a cream-colored horse, rabbit, or the like.
1788. Papers Twining Fam. (1887), 154. She was drawn by a pair of prancing, long-tailed ‘creams.’
1872. Black, Adv. Phaeton, I. vii. 147. Barges in cream and gold.
1885. Bazaar, 30 March, 1269/2. A grand pair of creams, with their litter of young.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Feb., 3/2. The Queen’s horses…. The creams are eleven in number.
7. attrib. and Comb., as cream-bowl, -fat, -freezer, -pail, -pancake, etc.; cream-blanched, -hued, white, etc., adjs.; cream-cake, a cake filled with a custard made of cream, eggs, etc.; cream colo(u)r, the color of cream, a yellowish white; also attrib.; absol. a cream-colored horse; cream-cups, a Californian papaveraceous plant, Platystemon californicus, with cream-colored flowers; cream-faced a., having a face of the color of cream (from fear); † cream-joy, a kind of sweet-meat; cream-jug, a small jug for holding cream at table; † cream-kitte (see quot.); cream-laid a., applied to laid paper of a cream color; cream-nut = Brazil nut; cream-pan = creaming pan; cream-pitcher, (U.S.) a cream-jug; cream-pot, a vessel for holding milk while the cream is forming; a vessel for keeping cream; fig. a dairy-maid; see 1877 and cf. cream-kitte; cream-separator, a machine for separating the cream from milk; cream-slice, a knife-like instrument for skimming milk, or for serving frozen cream; cream-ware, cream-colored pottery ware; † cream-water (see quot.); cream-wove, wove paper of cream color. Also CREAM-CHEESE, etc.
1818. Milman, Samor, 345. Hath the *cream-blanch’d steed … borne away His master?
1590. Tarlton, News Purgat. (1844), 56. As merry … as ever Robin Goodfellow made the cuntry wenches at their *Cream-boules.
1636. B. Jonson, Discov., Wks. (Rtldg.), 747/2. You may sound these wits … They are cream bowl, or but puddle-deep.
1884. Girl’s Own Paper, Nov., 4/2. Work up the milk into … *cream-cake.
1694. Molesworth, Acc. Denmark (ed. 3), 35. A good Breed of Horses … of a yellowish *Cream Colour.
1769. Stratford Jubilee, I. i. 10. An … ass set up his horrid bray, started my cream colours.
1882. Garden, 16 Dec., 533/3. Chrysanthemums … cream colour, full flower.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. iii. 11. Thou *cream-fac’d Loone.
1793–7. Polit. Ecl., in Spirit Public Jrnls. for 1797 (1799), I. 437. Great Marat … Sees cream-fac’d Stanley turn on Fox his heels.
1719. D’Urfey, Pills, IV. 325. I have … Ruscan and *Cream joy, wherewith you may slabber you.
1773. Lond. Chron., 7 Sept., 248/3. The following articles … were assayed and marked … castors, ice pails, *cream jugs.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, xv. I observe another fly in the cream-jug.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 93. This feaste [harvest-home] is called the creame-potte or *creame-kitte;… the workefolkes will aske theire dames if they have good store of creame, and say that they must have the creame kitte anon.
1863. R. Herring, Paper & P.-Making (ed. 3), 123. With reference to the writing qualities … there are five kinds—cream wove, yellow wove, blue wove, *cream laid, and blue laid.
1752. Mrs. Delany, Corr., 131. My *cream-pail is now before me in my china case, and makes a very considerable figure.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Esburrer, to fleet the *creame potte.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Wit w. Money, II. v. To carry any dirty dairy Cream-pot, or any gentle Lady of the Laundry behinde my Gelding.
1684. Otway, Atheist, II. i. What would your Cream-pot in the Country give for that title, think you?
1877. Holderness Gloss., Cream-pot, a harvest supper of cakes and cream.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz. Extra, 24 July, 3/1. There are three *cream separators.
1887. Spectator, 1 Oct., 1305. Milk from which the cream has been taken by the centrifugal cream-separator.
1789. W. H. Marshall, Glouc., I. 269. *Cream-slice, a wooden knife, somewhat in the shape of a table-knife; length 12 or 14 inches.
1726. Dict. Rust., s.v., *Cream-water, such Water as has a kind of Oil upon it or fat Scum, which being boiled, turns to several Medicaments.
1842. Tennyson, Sir Launcel. & Q. Guinev., 31. Her *cream-white mule.
1882. Garden, 5 Aug., 110/1. A little Hollyhock with cream-white flowers.
1863. *Cream-wove [see cream-laid].
1891. Haymarket Stores Catal., 387. Foreign note paper. Strong cream wove.
