cream

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The thick, fatty part of milk that rises to the top.

   She poured cream over the fresh strawberries.

2. 2
   noun

   A thick substance you put on your skin to soften or protect it.

   Remember to put sun cream on before going to the beach.

3. 3
   noun

   The best people or things in a group.

   These students are the cream of the school.

4. 4
   noun

   A pale yellowish-white colour.

   They painted the walls a soft cream.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cream entered Middle English from Old French cresme, modern French crème. Its earlier ancestry blends ecclesiastical Latin chrism, from Greek chrisma, “anointing,” with Late Latin camum, possibly a Gaulish word for cream. By the late 16th century cream could figuratively mean the best part of something.

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…

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