cream

cream
    n 1: the best people or things in a group; "the cream of
         England's young men were killed in the Great War" [syn:
         {cream}, {pick}]
    2: the part of milk containing the butterfat
    3: toiletry consisting of any of various substances in the form
       of a thick liquid that have a soothing and moisturizing
       effect when applied to the skin [syn: {cream}, {ointment},
       {emollient}]
    v 1: make creamy by beating; "Cream the butter"
    2: beat thoroughly and conclusively in a competition or fight;
       "We licked the other team on Sunday!" [syn: {cream}, {bat},
       {clobber}, {drub}, {thrash}, {lick}]
    3: put on cream, as on one's face or body; "She creams her face
       every night"
    4: remove from the surface; "skim cream from the surface of
       milk" [syn: {skim}, {skim off}, {cream off}, {cream}]
    5: add cream to one's coffee, for example
    

Cream \Cream\ (kr[=e]m), n. [F. cr[^e]me, perh. fr. LL. crema
   cream of milk; cf. L. cremor thick juice or broth, perh. akin
   to cremare to burn.]
   1. The rich, oily, and yellowish part of milk, which, when
      the milk stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the
      surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is
      obtained.
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   2. The part of any liquor that rises, and collects on the
      surface. [R.]
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   3. A delicacy of several kinds prepared for the table from
      cream, etc., or so as to resemble cream.
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   4. A cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.
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            In vain she tries her paste and creams,
            To smooth her skin or hide its seams. --Goldsmith.
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   5. The best or choicest part of a thing; the quintessence;
      as, the cream of a jest or story; the cream of a
      collection of books or pictures.
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            Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant.
                                                  --Shelton.
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   {Bavarian cream}, a preparation of gelatin, cream, sugar, and
      eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold.

   {Cold cream}, an ointment made of white wax, almond oil, rose
      water, and borax, and used as a salve for the hands and
      lips.

   {Cream cheese}, a kind of cheese made from curd from which
      the cream has not been taken off, or to which cream has
      been added.

   {Cream gauge}, an instrument to test milk, being usually a
      graduated glass tube in which the milk is placed for the
      cream to rise.

   {Cream nut}, the Brazil nut.

   {Cream of lime}.
      (a) A scum of calcium carbonate which forms on a solution
          of milk of lime from the carbon dioxide of the air.
      (b) A thick creamy emulsion of lime in water.

   {Cream of tartar} (Chem.), purified tartar or argol; so
      called because of the crust of crystals which forms on the
      surface of the liquor in the process of purification by
      recrystallization. It is a white crystalline substance,
      with a gritty acid taste, and is used very largely as an
      ingredient of baking powders; -- called also {potassium
      bitartrate}, {acid potassium tartrate}, etc.
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Cream \Cream\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Creamed} (kr?md); p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Creaming}.]
   1. To skim, or take off by skimming, as cream.
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   2. To take off the best or choicest part of.
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   3. To furnish with, or as with, cream.
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            Creaming the fragrant cups.           --Mrs.
                                                  Whitney.
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   {To cream butter} (Cooking), to rub, stir, or beat, butter
      till it is of a light creamy consistency.
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Cream \Cream\, v. i.
   To form or become covered with cream; to become thick like
   cream; to assume the appearance of cream; hence, to grow
   stiff or formal; to mantle.
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         There are a sort of men whose visages
         Do cream and mantle like a standing pool. --Shak.
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274 Moby Thesaurus words for "cream":
      abstergent, aerate, alabaster, alabastrine, albescent, albumen,
      aristocracy, aureate, auric, balm, balsam, barons, batter, beat,
      beat up, beige, blank, blast, bonnyclabber, bowl down,
      brilliantine, buff, buff-yellow, bulldoze, butter, buttermilk,
      canary, canary-yellow, cathartic, cerate, certified milk, champion,
      cheese, choice, chosen, chrism, churn, citron, citron-yellow,
      clabber, cleaner, cleaning agent, cleaning solvent, cleanser,
      cleansing cream, clobber, clot, coagulate, cold cream, colloid,
      colloidize, collyrium, condensed milk, cornstarch, creamy, curd,
      curdle, dairy products, defeat utterly, demulcent, dentifrice,
      depurant, detergent, diuretic, dough, drub, dun-white, ecru,
      egg white, eggshell, elect, elite, embrocation, emetic, emollient,
      emulsify, emulsionize, enema, establishment, eye-lotion, eyewash,
      face cream, fair, fallow, fat, flaxen, flower, foam, froth, gaum,
      gel, gelatin, ghee, gilded, gilt, glair, glaucescent, glaucous,
      glop, glue, gluten, gold, gold-colored, golden, goo, gook, goop,
      gray-white, gruel, gumbo, gunk, half-and-half, hand lotion,
      heavy cream, holystone, incrassate, inspissate, inunction,
      inunctum, ivory, ivory-white, jam, jell, jellify, jelly, lambaste,
      lanolin, lather, lemon, lemon-yellow, lenitive, lick, light,
      light cream, lint-white, loblolly, lopper, lords of creation,
      lotion, luteolous, lutescent, mantle, margarine, milk, molasses,
      mouthwash, mucilage, mucus, nard, nauseant, nobility, nonesuch,
      nonfat dry milk, nonpareil, ocherish, ocherous, ochery, ochreous,
      ochroid, ochrous, ochry, off-white, ointment, oleo, oleomargarine,
      optimum, or, overbear, overlapping, overwhelm, pale, pap, paragon,
      paste, pearl, pearly, pearly-white, pick, pomade, pomatum,
      porridge, power elite, power structure, pride, prime, primrose,
      primrose-colored, primrose-yellow, prize, pudding, pulp,
      pumice stone, puree, purgative, purge, purifier, putty, queen,
      quintessence, raw milk, rinse, rob, ruling circles, ruling class,
      saffron, saffron-colored, saffron-yellow, sallow, salve,
      sand-colored, sandy, schmear, scum, select, semifluid, semiliquid,
      shampoo, shellac, shut out, size, skim milk, skunk, smear,
      snow under, soap, solvent, soothing syrup, soup, sour cream,
      spikenard, spume, starch, steamroller, sticky mess, straw,
      straw-colored, sud, suds, superlative, synthetic detergent, syrup,
      the best, the best ever, the best people, the brass, the tops,
      the very best, thicken, tooth powder, toothpaste, top, top people,
      treacle, unction, unguent, unguentum, upper class, upper crust,
      wash, whelm, whey, whip, whipping cream, whisk, whitewash, whitish,
      whity, whomp, whop, xanthic, xanthous, yellow, yellowish, yogurt