Other forms: crested, crests, cresting
A crest is the tuft on top of a bird's head, the feathers it raises when it is alarmed or showing off. A cockatoo throwing up a yellow fan; the two thin plumes standing off the back of a lapwing's skull.
The word climbs to whatever is on top: the crest of a hill, the crest of a wave, snow smoking off the crest of a ridge. As a verb it means to reach that top, so a train crests the pass and a wave crests and falls. Then there is the badge sense, as in a family crest or the club crest stitched on a shirt. In heraldry the crest is strictly only the figure above the helmet, and calling a whole coat of arms a crest is an old mix-up that has now won. To be riding the crest of a wave is to be in the middle of a run of success.
1nouncrestA tuft of feathers, fur or skin on the top of an animal's head.
“The bird raised its crest the moment the cat appeared.”
2nounsummitThe top ridge of a hill, a wave or a roof.
“We stopped at the crest of the hill to look back at the town.”
3nounbadgeA badge or emblem belonging to a family, school or club.
“The school crest is stitched on the blazer pocket.”
4verbreachTo reach the top of a hill, ridge or wave.
“The bus crested the ridge and the sea appeared below.”
crest is a tuft or ridge on top of something.
Crest comes through Middle English creste and Old French creste, now French crete, from Latin crista, and Old English may have fed the same word from its own cresta, a crest or plume. Further back lies the root (s)ker-, to turn. The badge meaning grew out of a misreading of heraldry, where the crest is only the ornament fixed on top of the helmet.
Proto-Indo-European
*(s)ker- (turn)
Latin
crista
Vulgar Latin
*cresta
Old English
cræsta — crest, tuft, plume
Old French
creste
Middle English
creste
English, today
crest
From Middle English creste, from Old French creste (modern crête) and perhaps continuing Old English cræsta (“crest, tuft, plume”); both ultimately from Vulgar Latin cresta, from Latin crista. a doublet of crista. The informal meaning “design, logo” (logo) stems from a misinterpretation of the heraldic heraldry, which specifically refers to the object placed on top of the helm.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA