Definition of "cress" [cress]

• An Old World annual plant (Lepidium sativum) in the mustard family, cultivated for its edible seedlings and leaves. (noun)
• Any of several related plants, such as pennycress and watercress. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The delicate French rolls which were now always ready for her uncle's plate in the morning, had sometimes nothing to back them, unless the unfailing water-cress from the good little spring in the meadow."
• "There are also areas for cress, which is produced in part by independent small farmers in Batabano and by cooperatives, although we are going to develop other areas for cress."
• "There was _zamouta_, an umbelliferous plant, the seed of which is used in coffee, and _habat-assoba_ for putting in bread; coriander, chili, fennel, and _helf_, a plant very like tall cress, which is used in cookery and also raw, and which we liked as"