n. [ See Crescent. ] Increase; enlargement. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

And toward the moon's attractive crescence bend. H. Brooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Mus.) (a) A gradual increase in the strength and fullness of tone with which a passage is performed. (b) A passage to be performed with constantly increasing volume of tone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. & adv. [ It., from crescere to increase. See Crescent. ] (Mus.) With a constantly increasing volume of voice; with gradually increasing strength and fullness of tone; -- a direction for the performance of music, indicated by the mark, or by writing the word on the score. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Shaped like a crescent. [ 1913 Webster ]

Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Increasing; growing. [ 1913 Webster ]

O, I see the crescent promise of my spirit hath not set. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To form into a crescent, or something resembling a crescent. [ R. ] Anna Seward. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To adorn with crescents. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. cressent, cressaunt, crescent (in sense 1), OF. creissant increasing, F. croissant, p. pr. of croître, OF. creistre, fr. L. crescere to increase, v. incho.; akin to creare to create. See Create, and cf. Accrue, Increase, Crescendo. ] 1. The increasing moon; the moon in her first quarter, or when defined by a concave and a convex edge; also, applied improperly to the old or decreasing moon in a like state. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Anything having the shape of a crescent or new moon. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A representation of the increasing moon, often used as an emblem or badge; as: (a) A symbol of Artemis, or Diana. (b) The ancient symbol of Byzantium or Constantinople. Hence: (c) The emblem of the Turkish Empire, adopted after the taking of Constantinople. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cross of our faith is replanted,
The pale, dying crescent is daunted. Campbell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Any one of three orders of knighthood; the first instituted by Charles I., king of Naples and Sicily, in 1268; the second by René of Anjou, in 1448; and the third by the Sultan Selim III., in 1801, to be conferred upon foreigners to whom Turkey might be indebted for valuable services. Brande & C. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Her.) The emblem of the increasing moon with horns directed upward, when used in a coat of arms; -- often used as a mark of cadency to distinguish a second son and his descendants. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Crescent-shaped. “Crescentic lobes.” R. Owen. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In the form of a crescent; like a crescent. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. crescere to increase. ] Increasing; growing. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Creosote. ] (Chem.) Any one of three metameric substances, CH3.C6H4.OH, homologous with and resembling phenol. They are obtained from coal tar and wood tar, and are colorless, oily liquids or solids. [ Called also cresylic acid. ] [ 1913 Webster ]