Cres"set (kr?s"s?t), n. [OF. crasset, cresset, sort of lamp or torch; perh. of Dutch or German origin, and akin to E. cruse, F. creuset crucible, E. crucible.]
1.
An open frame or basket of iron, filled with combustible material, to be burned as a beacon; an open lamp or firrepan carried on a pole in nocturnal processions.
Starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed
With naphtha and asphaltus.
Milton.
As a cresset true that darts its length
Of beamy luster from a tower of strength.
Wordsworth.
2. Coopering
A small furnace or iron cage to hold fire for charring the inside of a cask, and making the staves flexible.
Knight.
© Webster 1913.