cream

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the best people or things in a group

   the cream of England's young men were killed in the Great War

2. 2
   verb

   to add cream to, for example, coffee

   I creamed the tea already.

3. 3
   verb

   to remove from the surface

   I creamed the surface of the water to remove debris.

4. 4
   verb

   to put on cream, as on one's face or body

   They cream their faces every night.

5. 5
   noun

   The butterfat or milkfat part of milk which rises to the top; this part when separated from the remainder.

   Take 100 ml of cream and 50 grams of sugar…

6. 6
   noun

   A yellowish white color; the color of cream.

   Hundreds of examples remain, still following the same general pattern—maroon, green or chocolate brown, for example, from ground to waist level, then a stale Cheddar cheese shade of cream above.

7. 7
   noun

   Frosting, custard, creamer, or another substance similar to the oily part of milk or to whipped cream.

   Originally the cream filling in Oreo cookies was made with pork lard.

8. 8
   noun

   The best part of something.

   the cream of the crop

Etymology

From Middle English creime, creme, from Old French creme, cresme, blend of Late Latin chrisma (“ointment”) (from Ancient Greek χρῖσμα (khrîsma, “unguent”)), and Late Latin crāmum (“cream”), from Gaulish *crama (compare Welsh cramen (“scab, skin”), Breton crammen), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)krama- (compare Middle Irish screm (“surface, skin”), Dutch schram (“abrasion”), Lithuanian kramas (“scurf”)). Doublet of crema and crème. Displaced native Old English rēam (“cream”) (> modern ream). Figurative sense of "most excellent element or part" appears from 1581. Verb meaning "to beat, thrash, wre…