Obs. Also creaunt. [In form, a. OF. creant believing, trusting, giving oneself up, pr. pple. of creire:—L. crēdĕre to believe. But as OF. had only recréant in this sense, it is possible that creant is an abbreviated form of that word. Cf. CRAVEN.]
1. In phrases To yield oneself creant, to cry (or say) creant: To acknowledge oneself vanquished; to surrender oneself to an antagonist.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 288. And leið hire sulf aduneward, and buhð him ase he bit, and zeieð creaunt, creaunt, ase swowinde.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 478 (1883). Ar ich wald creaunt ȝeld me Ich hadde leuer an-hanged be.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 5319. On knees he fel doun, and cryde Creaunt, For Mahoun and Termagaunt. But Sere Fouk wolde nought soo; The hedde he smot the body froo.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XII. 193. Þe thef … ȝelte hym creaunt to cryst on þe crosse and knewleched hym gulty.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pars. T., ¶ 624. He that despeireth hym is lyke the cowarde Champion recreaunt that seith creant with oute nede.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxliii. The knight overcome the clerk and made hym yelde hym creaunt of his false impechement.
2. Believing, orthodox. nonce-use.
1833. Carlyle, Cagliostro, Misc. Ess. (1888), V. 124. The lives of all Eminent Persons, miscreant or creant.
