cress

cress n

Std Sense, var forms. Note: The forms recorded here often refer specifically to winter cress n. chiefly Mid Atl, sAppalachians

1 crease (also sp creece, creese); usu pl or occas in combs crease greens, ~ salad. [OED2 (at cress) “1500s-1600s creeses (still dialect)”] Cf salad n B1

1918 Twin City Sentinel (Winston-Salem NC) 4 Mar 12/4, [Advt:] Plenty of fresh turnip salad, Mustard and Creeses. 1919 Rural New-Yorker 78.212/3 MD, Just at this season the popular greens, either for boiling or salad, is what the darkies call “creeses,” the upland cress, Barbarea præcox, known here generally as “Winter cress.” 1937 (1963) Hyatt Kiverlid 79 KY, We picked wild mustard . . an’ I don’t know what all—I think maybe some creeces, too. 1942 Hall Smoky Mt. Speech 21, Examples of [i] for [ɛ]: cress [ˈkrisəz] (apparently the usual form). 1946 PADS 6.10 sVA, cNC, Creeses [ˈkrisɪz]. . . Cress or cress greens. . . Common. 1952 Giles 40 Acres 116 KY, To hunt dry land creases! . . It was a small, flat plant growing close to the ground, with leaves very similar to our water cress.. 1963 Watkins–Watkins Yesterday Hills 79 cnGA, Food was plentiful in the spring; creases grew in the creek bottom, and the “salet” of creases boiled with a piece of fat meat was good. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. I28b) Infs NC31, 33, 36, 37, 44, 63, Creases; GA72, KY34, 40, 42, [krisɪz]; KY8, [kris]; (Qu. I28a) Inf VA9, [ˈkrisɛz]; TN13, Crease; MD37, Winter crease. 1970 Richmond Times–Dispatch (VA) 3 Dec sec C 10/3, [Advt:] Fresh Hanover Creases Salad 2 lbs. 49c. 1973 Foxfire 2 79 nGA, “They bloom yeller all over a cornfield, that’s creases.” . . Cress salad: toss together lightly, two cups finely cut creases. 1982 Durham Morning Herald (NC) 9 Apr sec A 9/5, [Advt:] Creese Greens. . . 2lbs 99ȼ. 2005 Williams Gratitude 488 wNC (as of 1940s), Creases: edible, much prized wild watercress, which grows along damp branch banks or in damp areas. Also called creasy greens. 2014 Progress–Index (Petersburg VA) 24 Mar sec A 7/6, [Advt:] Fresh Local Crease Salad $2.19/LB.

2 creasy (also sp creasie, creassy, creecy, creesie, creesy); usu pl or, more freq, in combs creasy greens, ~ salad.

1909 Camden Chronicle (TN) 5 Feb [2]/3, Uncle Tom Warmack is going to get into serious trouble with the ladies of this community if he don’t keep his cows out of that Creasy salad patch. 1927 Greenville News (SC) 8 May 4/5, [Letter:] Their diet was corn bread, cow peas, creasies, polk salad, fat meat, and pumpkin pie for desert. 1931 Charleston Daily Mail (WV) 10 Apr 12/3, [Advt:] Produce Dept. . . Creasy Greens, 3 lbs. 25c. 1946 PADS 6.10 VA, NC, Creesy salad. . . Same as cresses. 1953 PADS 19.10 wNC, Creasy-greens [ˈkrisɪ—]. . . Cress, especially upland cress. 1954 PADS 21.24 SC, Creassy greens: . . Watercress. Reported sporadically from Sumter and the northwestern sections. 1957 Asheville Citizen (NC) 2 Apr 18/7, [Advt:] It’s New! Now You Can Buy “Old Fashioned” Creecy Greens in cans. . . Just heat them and serve. 1961 Mt. Life 37.1.57, In almost any old field can be found wild lettuce . . creasies, crow’s foot, and a hundred others. 1967–70 DARE (Qu. I28b) Infs NC72, TN11, Creasy greens; VA104, [ˈkrisi]. 1976 Garber Mountain-ese 19 NC, The wimmern air down in the bottom pickin’ creesie salad fer dinner. 1984 Daily Press (Newport News VA) 6 Apr 16/4, [Advt:] Creasy Salad Fresh Home Grown LB. 69ȼ. 1994 Observer (Charlottesville VA) 3 Mar mag sec 4/1 csVA, As soon as there were signs of spring color in the idle fields, the old folks in Sugar Hill would go searching for creasy—their name for the upland cress, or winter cress, that grows in formerly plowed fields in Southside Virginia. 1998 Folklife Center News 20.4.5 swWV, They wonder where the creasies (dry land cress) are growing this year, and Jenny points out that creasies won’t grow unless you till the soil. 2005 [see 1 above]. 2011 Progress–Index (Petersburg VA) 24 Apr sec A 3/2, Thanks to my dear friend Cora Dugger for the most delicious creasy salad she brought me last week. . . You can’t find creasy salad like you used to.

3 cressy (also sp cressie); usu pl or, more freq, in combs cressy greens, ~ salad..

1930 Charlotte Observer (NC) 18 Jan 11/1, [Advt:] Today’s Selections—Cressy Greens—Turnip Salad—Spinach—Mustard Greens. 1952 Newark Advocate & Amer. Tribune (OH) 22 May 11/1, The chef and I enjoyed the following dinner in an old established Southern restaurant. . . Hot “Cressies” Salad. 1960 Harper’s Mag. Jan 51/2 cwNC, So it’s good-by Jones’ store, farewell to rat cheese, the cracker box, fresh country butter, and a ten-cent poke of cressy salad. 1970 DARE (Qu. I28b) Infs VA35, 42, Cressy sallet; VA71, Cressy. 1978 Asheville Citizen–Times (NC) 11 Dec 14/6, Logan is currently harvesting greens from “about three acres of cressies.” 1986 Byerly Hard Times 53 cNC (as of 1940s) [Black], Then we’d go cressie green hunting in the morning and come back at lunch time and set up some cressie greens. 1990 Kingsport Times–News (TN) 5 Nov sec B 5/8, [Advt:] Cressy Greens—Applebutter. 2013 Progress–Index (Petersburg VA) 8 Dec sec A 3/2, I put a hurting on those turnips and a bag of cressy salad, which hit the spot.