different between crest vs swale

English

Etymology

From Middle English creste, borrowed from Old French creste (modern crête), from Latin crista. Doublet of crista.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??st/
• Rhymes: -?st

Noun

crest (plural crests)

1. The summit of a hill or mountain ridge.
2. A tuft, or other natural ornament, growing on an animal's head, for example the comb of a cockerel, the swelling on the head of a snake, the lengthened feathers of the crown or nape of bird, etc.
3. The plume of feathers, or other decoration, worn on or displayed on a helmet; the distinctive ornament of a helmet.
4. (heraldry) A bearing worn, not upon the shield, but usually on a helmet above it, sometimes (as for clerics) separately above the shield or separately as a mark for plate, in letterheads, and the like.
5. The upper curve of a horse's neck.
6. The ridge or top of a wave.

7. The helm or head, as typical of a high spirit; pride; courage.
8. The ornamental finishing which surmounts the ridge of a roof, canopy, etc.
9. The top line of a slope or embankment.
10. (anatomy) A ridge along the surface of a bone.
11. (informal) A design or logo, especially one of an institution, association or high-class family.
12. Any of several birds in the family Regulidae, including the goldcrests and firecrests.

Synonyms

• (skin on head of birds): comb, cockscomb

Coordinate terms

• (skin on head of birds): caruncle, snood, wattle

Translations

Verb

crest (third-person singular simple present crests, present participle cresting, simple past and past participle crested)

1. (intransitive) Particularly with reference to waves, to reach a peak.
2. (transitive) To reach the crest of (a hill or mountain)
3. To furnish with, or surmount as, a crest; to serve as a crest for.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, Extracts from An Evening Walk

     groves of clouds that crest the mountain's brow

4. To mark with lines or streaks like waving plumes.

Translations

Anagrams

• RTECS, certs

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /swe?l/
• Rhymes: -e?l

Etymology 1

Possibly from Middle English swale (“a shady place, a shadow”), perhaps of North Germanic origin; akin to Old Norse svalr (“cool, fresh”), Icelandic svalir (“a balcony running along a wall”).

Noun

swale (plural swales)

1. A low tract of moist or marshy land.
2. A long narrow and shallow trough between ridges on a beach, running parallel to the coastline.
3. A shallow troughlike depression that's created to carry water during rainstorms or snow melts; a drainage ditch.
4. Bioswale, a shallow trough dug into the land on contour (horizontally with no slope), whose purpose is to allow water time to percolate into the soil.
   • 2009, Toby Hemenway, Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, 2nd Edition, Chelsea Green Publishing (?ISBN), page 101:

     The stored water creates an underground reservoir that aids plant growth for tens of feet below the swale. Swales also prevent gullies from forming by intercepting rainwater, slowing it, spreading it, and storing it in the soil.

5. A shallow, usually grassy depression sloping downward from a plains upland meadow or level vegetated ridgetop.

   • Jane climbed a few more paces behind him and then peeped over the ridge. Just beyond began a shallow swale that deepened and widened into a valley, and then swung to the left.

Translations

Etymology 2

See sweal.

Noun

swale (plural swales)

1. (Britain, dialectal) A gutter in a candle.

Verb

swale (third-person singular simple present swales, present participle swaling, simple past and past participle swaled)

1. Alternative form of sweal (melt and waste away, or singe)

Anagrams

• Wales, alews, lawes, sweal, wales, weals

Middle English

Noun

swale

1. Alternative form of whale