creaturely 
being; having the character and limitations of 
a creature. [Rare.] 
Some, not keeping to the pure gift, have in creaturely 
cunning and self-exaltution sought out many inventions. 
John Woolwan, Journal, iv. 
Christianity rested on the belief that God made all 
things very good, and that the evil in the world was due 
to sin to the perversity of the creaturely will. 
Prof. Flint. 
creatureship (kre'tur-ship), n. [< creature + 
-shii>.~\ The state of being a creature. [Rare.] 
The state of elect and non-elect, afore or without the 
consideration of the fall, is that of creatureship simply 
and absolutely considered. Goodwin, Works, II. iv. 134. 
creaturizet(kre'tur-iz), v. t. [< creature + -ize.] 
To give the character of a created being or 
creature to ; specifically, to animalize. 
This sisterly relation and consanguinity . . . would . . . 
degrade and creaturize that mundane soul. 
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 594. 
creauncet, n. and v. See creance. 
creauntt, a. See creant 1 . 
creaze (krez), . [Origin obscure ; perhaps for 
"craze, < craze, v.'] In mining, the work or tin 
in the middle part of the buddle in dressing tin 
ore. Pryce. [Cornwall.] 
crebricostate (kre-bri-kos'tat), a. [< L. creber, 
close, + costa, a rib, + -ate 1 .] In conch., mark- 
ed with closely set ribs or ridges. 
crebrisulcate (kre-bri-sul'kat), a. [< L. creber, 
close, + sulcus, a furrow, + -ate 1 .'] In conch., 
marked with closely set transverse furrows. 
crebritudet (kreb'ri-tud), n. [< LL. crebritudo, 
< L. creber, close, frequent.] Frequentness ; 
oftenness. Bailey. 
crebrity (kreb'ri-ti), . [< L. crebrita(t-)s, close- 
ness, frequency ','< creber, close, frequent.] Close 
succession ; frequent occurrence ; frequency. 
[Rare.] 
I guess by the crebrity and number of the stones remain- 
ing. A. L. Lewis, Jour, of Anthrop. Inst., XV. 166. 
crebrous (kre'brus), a. [< Jj. creber, close, fre- 
quent, + -out.'] Near together ; frequent; fre- 
quently occurring. [Rare.] 
Assisting grace, stirred up by crebrous and frequent acts, 
grows up into an habit or facility of working. 
Goodrrin, Works, V. i. 175. 
creche (krash), . [F., < OF. creche, a crib, > 
E. cratch 2 , q. v.] 1. A public nursery where 
the children of women who go out to work are 
cared for during the day, usually for a small 
payment. 2. An asylum for foundlings and 
infants which have been abandoned. 
Creciscus (kre-sis'kus), n. [NL., < Crex ( Crec-) 
+ dim. -iscus.~\ A genus of very small dark- 
colored crakes, containing such species as the 
little black rail of North America, Creciscus ja- 
maicensis. Cabanis, 1856. 
credence (kre'dens), n. [< ME. credence, < OF. 
credence, credance (also creance, etc.), faith, = 
It. credenza, faith (also a cupboard, etc.), < ML. 
credentia, faith, < L. creden(t-)s, believing: see 
credent and credit, v. Cf. creance, a doublet of 
credence.'] 1. Belief; credit; reliance of the 
mind on evidence of facts derived from other 
sources than personal knowledge, as from the 
testimony of others. 
I can not sei what he is, but wele he semed a wise man, 
and therfore I yaf to his counseile credence. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 47. 
These fine legends, told with staring eyes, 
Met with small credence from the old and wise. 
O. W. Holmes, The Island Ruin. 
Their kings suspect each other, but pretend 
Credence of what their lying lips disclose. 
R. H. Stoddard, History. 
2. That which gives a claim to credit, belief, 
or confidence; credentials: now used only in 
the phrase letter of credence (a paper intended 
to commend the bearer to the confidence of a 
third person). 
He left his credence to make good the rest. 
Credence, i6tli century. 
From a carving in Amiens Cathe- 
dral. (From VioUet-le-Duc's " Diet, 
du Mobilier francais.") 
1340 
or cabinet for the display of plate, etc. 5. 
Eccles., in the Roman Catholic and Anglican 
churches, a small 
table, slab, or shelf 
against the wall of 
the sanctuary or 
chancel, near the 
epistle side of the 
altar (on the right of 
one facing it). On the 
credence are placed the 
cruets, the vessel (canister, 
pyx, or ciborium) for the 
altar-breads, the lavabo- 
basin and napkin, etc. 
Sometimes a niche in the 
sanctuary-wall serves the 
same purpose. At high 
mass in the Roman Cath- 
olic Church, and at all 
celebrations in the Angli- 
can Church, the elements 
are taken from the cre- 
dence at the time of the 
offertory. In the Greek 
Church there is no ere* 
dence, the table in the 
chapel of prothesis (see 
prothetris) serving instead. 
Also called credence-table. 
- Syn. 1. Confidence, 
trust, faith. 
credencet (kre'dens), 
v. t. [< credence, n.~] 
To give credence to; 
believe. 
In credensing his tales. 
Skelton, Why Come ye not 
[to Court ? 
credence-table (kre'dens-ta/bl), n. Same as 
credence, 5. 
credencive (kre-den'siv), a. [< credence + -we.'] 
Having a strong impulse to believe and act 
upon testimony. [Rare.] 
credenciveness (kre-den'siv-nes), n. A social 
impulse to conformity or acquiescence ; a ten- 
dency to believe any testimony. [Rare.] 
credend (kre-dend'), n. Same as credendum. 
credendum (kre-den'dum), n. ; pi. eredenda 
(-da). [L., neut. gerundive of credere, believe : 
see creed. ] In theol. , something to be believed ; 
an article of faith ; a matter of belief, as dis- 
tinguished from agendum, a matter of practice : 
usually in the plural. 
credent (kre'dent), a. [< L. creden(t-)s, ppr. 
of credere, believe: see credit. Cf. creant, a 
doublet of credent, and grant, which is closely 
related.] 1. Believing; inclined to believe or 
credit ; apt to give credence or belief ; credu- 
lous. 
If with too credent ear you list his songs. 
Shalt., Hamlet, i. 3. 
2. Having credit; not to be questioned. 
My authority bears of a credent bulk ; 
That no particular scandal once can touch. 
Shak., M. for M., iv. 4. 
[Obsolete or archaic in both uses.] 
credential (kre-den'shal), a. and . [< OF. 
credencial, < ML. "credentials, < credentia, faith, 
credit : see credence, .] I. a. Giving a title to 
credit or confidence. 
Credential letters on both sides. 
Camden, Elizabeth (trans.), an. 1600. 
II. n. 1. That which gives credit ; that which 
gives a title or claim to confidence. [Rare in 
the singular.] 
For this great dominion here, 
Which over other beasts we claim, 
Reason our best credential doth appear. 
Buckinghamshire, Ode on Brntus. 
2. pi. Evidences of right to credence or au- 
thority ; specifically, letters of credence ; testi- 
monials given to a person as the warrant on 
which belief, credit, or authority is claimed for 
your Maiestie. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 148. 
What Sign, what Powers, what Credence do you bring? 
Cowley, Pindaric Odes, xiv. 3. 
3t. Some act or process of testing the nature 
or character of food before serving it, as a pre- 
caution against poison, formerly practised in 
royal or noble households. 
Credence is vsed, & tastynge, for drede of poysenynge 
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 196. 
Tasting and credence (or assaying) belong to no rank 
under that of an Earl. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 17, note 3. 
4f. In medieval times, a side-table or side- 
board on which the food was placed to be tasted 
before serving ; hence, in later use, a cupboard 
ognition and credit at a foreign court, or the cer- 
tificate and other papers showing the appoint- 
ment or election of an officer. 
To produce his credentials that he is indeed God's am- 
bassador. Trench. 
He felt that he had shown his credentials, and they were 
not accepted. G. W. Curtis, Int. to Cecil Dreeme, p. 2. 
Etiquette, however, demands that the audience for pre- 
senting credentials should take place as early as possible. 
E. Schuyler, American Diplomacy, p. 136. 
In very many cases the [medieval] letters were little 
more than credentials. The real news was carried by the 
bearer of the letter. 
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 128. 
credibility (kred-i-bil'i-ti), n. ; pi. en-ilihiliti,* 
(-tiz). [= OF. creablete, croiablete, F. m'dibilitc 
credit 
= Sp. credibilidad = Pg. credibilidadc = It. cre- 
dibilitd, < L. as if "credibilita(t-)s, < eredibilis, 
credible: see credible.'] 1. The capability or 
condition of being credited or believed; that 
quality in a person or thing which renders him 
or it worthy of credence ; credibleness ; just 
claim to credit : as, the credibility of a witness; 
the credibility of a statement or a narrative. 
The credibility of the Gospels would never have been 
denied, if it were not for the philosophical and dogmatic 
skepticism which desires to get rid of the supernatural 
and miraculous at any price. 
Scha/, Hist. Christ. Church, I. 78. 
2. That which makes credible; evidence of 
truth; proof. [Rare.] 
We may be as sure that Christ, the first-fruits, is already 
risen, as all these credibilities can make us. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 68. 
3. Credence; credit; belief. [Rare and inac- 
curate.] 
Pleasing fantasies, the cobweb visions of those dream- 
ing varlets, the poets, to which I would not have my ju- 
dicious readers attach any credibility. 
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 262. 
Historical credibility, the validity of testimony, as de- 
pendent on the trustworthiness of the witness or on the 
probability of the fact testified. 
credible (kred'i-bl), a. [< ME. credible, < OF. 
credible (also- croidible and eredable, creable, cre- 
aule, ereavle, F. croyable) = Sp. creible = Pg. 
crivel = It. credibile, credevole, < L. eredibilis, 
worthy of belief, < credere, believe: see credit."] 
1. Worthy of credit or belief, because of known 
or obvious veracity, integrity, or competence : 
applied to persons. 
Aftur they ben duly warned or required by ij. credible 
persones of the seid cite. 
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 377. 
No one can demonstrate to me that there is such an isl- 
and as Jamaica ; yet upon the testimony of credible per- 
sons I am free from doubt. Tillotson. 
2. Capable of being credited or believed, be- 
cause involving no contradiction, absurdity, or 
impossibility ; believable : applied to things. 
In Japan . . . ceremony was elaborated in books so far 
that every transaction, down to an execution, had its va- 
rious movements prescribed with a scarcely credible mi- 
nuteness. //. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., 429. 
The notions of the beginning and end of the world en- 
tertained by our forefathers are no longer credible. 
Huxley, Science and Culture. 
Credible witness, in law: (a) A competent witness: as, 
a will must be attested by two or more credible witnesses, 
(b) A witness not disqualified nor impeached as unworthy 
of credit : as, the fact was established on the trial by the 
testimony of several credible witnesses. 
credibleness (kred ' i -bl - nes), n. Credibility ; 
worthiness of belief; just claim to credit. 
[Rare.] 
The credibleness of ... these narratives. 
Boyle, Works, I. 435. 
credibly (kred'i-bli), adv. In a manner that 
deserves belief ; upon good authority; by cred- 
ible persons or witnesses. 
And so at the Necquebars, English men have bought, 
as I have been credibly informed, great quantities of very 
good Ambergriese. Damjrier, Voyages, I. 73. 
Philip was seen by one credibly informing us, under a 
strong guard. 
Mr. Dudley, in New England's Memorial, p. 436. 
A covering of snow, which, by-the-by, is deep enough, so 
I am credibly informed, to drive the big game from the 
[Yellowstone] park during the winter months. 
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 677. 
credit (kred'it), v. t. [< L. creditus, pp. of cre- 
dere, believe, trust, confide, = Ir. cret-im = 
Gael, creid, believe (perhaps from L.), = Skt. 
frad-dadliami, I believe (pp. frad-dadhat, trust- 
ing, craddhd, trust, faith, desire), < crad, mean- 
ing perhaps 'heart' (= Gr. Kapiia = L. cor(d-) 
= E. heart), + / dhd (= Gr. ti&6vai = L. dare, 
give) : crad being used only in connection with 
this verb. In some senses the E. verb, like F. 
crediter (> G. creditiren = Dan. kreditere), is 
from the noun. Hence (from L. credere) also 
credit, n., credible, credent, credence, creant, cre- 
ance, miscreant, recreant, creed, grant, etc.] 1. 
To believe; confide in the truth of; put cre- 
dence or confidence in : as, to credit a report or 
the person who makes it. 
Now I change my mind. 
And partly credit things that do presage. 
Shot., J. C., v. 1. 
'Tis an easy and necessary belief, to credit what our eye 
and sense hath examined. 
.sV, T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 9. 
For politeness' sake, he tried to credit the invention, but 
grew suspicious instead. 
G. W. Cable, Old Creole Days. p. 239. 
2. To reflect credit upon ; do credit to ; give 
reputation or honor to. 
