[f. CRESCENT sb. 3 c + -ADE, after crusade.] properly, A religious war waged under the Turkish flag; rhetorically, a jihād or holy war for Islam.
1868. G. Duff, Pol. Surv., 65. The further advance of the White Czar may yet be met by a crescentade, preached from the Caspian far away into the least known regions of China.
1884. Standard, 14 Nov., 5/4. He would then lead a crescentade to drive the English out of Egypt.
1888. M. MacColl, in Contemp. Rev., April, 541. This reactionary crescentade against every attempt at intellectual or moral progress beyond the Koran.
Hence Crescentader.
1880. Blackw. Mag., March, 368. Carried on a litter in rear of his crescentaders.