Forms: 1 cresse, cerse, cærse, 1–6 kerse, 4 carse, crasse, kers, cres, 4–8 cresse, 6 kars, 6–7 karsse, 6– cress. Pl. 1 -an, 2–5 -en; 5–6 kersis, 5– cresses, 6–7 creeses (still dial.). [OE. cresse, cerse = OLG. *kressa fem., MDu., MLG. kerse, Du. kers (also MLG. karse, LG. (Bremen) kasse), OHG. chressa f. (chresso m.), MHG. and mod.Ger. kresse, app. of native origin:—OTeut. *krasjôn-, from root of OHG. chresan to creep, as if ‘creeper.’ The Da. karse, Sw. krasse, Norw. kars, Lettish kresse, Russ. kress, appear to be adopted from Ger. For the metathesis of r, in cresse, cerse, cf. GRASS.
The synonymous Romanic words, It. crescione, F. cresson, Picard kerson, Cat. crexen, med.L. crissonus (9th c. Littré) are generally held to be from German, though popularly associated with L. crēscĕre to grow (as if from a L. type crēsciōn-em) with reference to the rapid growth of the plant.]
1. The common name of various cruciferous plants, having mostly edible leaves of a pungent flavor. (Until 19th c. almost always in pl.; sometimes construed with a verb in the singular.) a. spec. Garden Cress, Lepidium sativum, or WATERCRESS, Nasturtium officinale.
a. 700. [see b].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 116. Ðeos wyrt … þe man nasturcium, & oðrum naman cærse nemneð. Ibid., II. 68. Do earban to and cersan and smale netelan and beowyrt.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. IX. 322. With carses [v.r. crasses, cresses] and oþer herbes.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., II. 218. Now cresses sowe.
c. 1450. Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.), 39. Cressiones, gall. cressouns, anglice cressen.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 9 b. Onyons, Rokat, Karses [1561 Kersis].
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes, 55. Nasturtium is called … in englishe Cresse or Kerse.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, V. lix. 623. Cresses are commonly sowen in all gardens.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 195. Sow also Carrots, Cabbages, Cresses, Nasturtium.
1730–6. Bailey (folio), Cresses, an Herb us’d in Sallets; It has no Singular Number.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 132. To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread.
1830. Tennyson, Ode to Memory, 59. The brook that loves To purl o’er matted cress and ribbed sand. Ibid. (1855), Brook, 181. I loiter round my cresses.
b. With defining words, applied to many different cruciferous plants, and occasionally to plants of other Natural Orders resembling cress in flavor or appearance: as
American or Belleisle Cress, Barbarea præcox; Australian C. = Golden C.; Bank C., Sisymbrium officinale, also Barbarea præcox; Bastard C., Thlaspi arvense; Bitter C., the genus Cardamine, esp. C. amara; Brown C. = WATERCRESS; Churl’s C., Lepidium campestre; Cow-C. = prec.; also Helosciadium nodiflorum and Veronica Beccabunga (Brit. & Holl.); Dock-C., Lapsana communis; French C., Barbarea vulgaris; Garden C., Lepidium sativum; Golden C., a variety of prec.; Indian C., the genus Tropæolum; Lamb’s C., Cardamine hirsuta; Land C., Barbarea vulgaris, B. præcox, and Cardamine hirsuta; Meadow C., Cardamine pratensis; Mouse-ear C., Arabis Thaliana; Penny-C., Thlaspi arvense; Pepper-C., Teesdalia nudicaulis (Miller, Plant-n.); Peter’s C., Crithmum maritimum (Treas. Bot.); Rock C., the genus Arabis; also Crithmum maritimum (Treas. Bot.) Spanish C., Lepidium Cardamines; Spring C., Cardamine rhomboidea; Swine’s C., Senebiera Coronopus; Thale C., Arabis Thaliana; Tooth-C., the genus Dentaria; Tower C., Arabis Turrita; Town C., Lepidium sativum; Violet C., Ionopsidium acaule; Wall C., the genus Arabis; Wart C. = Swine’s Cress; Winter C., the genus Barbarea; Wild C., species of Thlaspi; Yellow C., Nasturtium palustre and N. amphibium.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 676. Nasturcium, tuuncressa.
a. 800. Erfurt Gloss., 676. Nasturcium, leccressae.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 94. Eacersan ʓetrifula oððe ʓeseoð on buteran.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 42. Town cresses, and cresses that growene in flode.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes, 44. Irio is named in greeke Erisimon, in englishe wynter cresse. Ibid. (1562), Herbal, II. 20 b. It may be called in Englishe way-cresses, wilde cresses, or sciatica cresses, because the herbe is good for the sciatica.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxiv. 95. We do now call it Coronopus Ruellij … in some places of England they call it Swynescressis. Ibid., V. lix. 623. This herbe is called … in English, Cresses, Towne Kars, or Towne Cresses. Ibid., V. lxii. 627. There be foure kindes of wilde Cresse, or Thlaspi, the which are not … vnlyke cresse in.
1597. Gerard, Herbal, II. xiv. (1623), 253. This beautiful plant is called … in English Indian Cresses. Ibid. Banke Cresses is found in stonie places.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 158. Water-Cresse, or Karsse, is … of like nature … as Towne-Karsse is.
1711. Petiver, in Phil. Trans., XXVII. 381. The largest of these Leaves resemble our Wart or Swines Cress.
1851. Balfour, Bot., § 822. The unripe fruit of Tropæolum majus, common Indian cress, has been pickled and used as capers.
1866. Treas. Bot., 347. Australian Cress, the Golden Cress, a broad yellowish-leaved variety of Lepidium sativum.
† 2. As the type of something of little worth or significance; in such phrases as not worth a cress (kerse), not to count (a thing) at a cress. Obs. (Cf. rush, straw.)
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 343. For anger gaynez þe not a cresse.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. X. 17. Wisdome and witte now is nouȝt worth a carse [v.r. kerse].
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 5443. Þe Amerel ne dredeþ hym noȝt … þe value of a kerse.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Miller’s T., 570. Of paramours ne sette he nat a kers.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 191. Y counte hyme nat at a cres.
3. attrib. and Comb., as cress-flower, -green, -taste; cress-rocket, a name for the cruciferous genus Vella (Treas. Bot., 1866).
1707. Floyer, Physic. Pulse-Watch, 332. The Cresse Tastes, Mustard-Seed, Spirit of Scurvy-Grass.
1813. Hogg, Queen’s Wake, ii. Wks. (1876), 32. And pu’ the cress-flower round the spring.
1883. Cassell’s Fam. Mag., Oct., 698/2. The velvet is the new cress-green … known by the name of ‘cresson.’
