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Literary notes about crest (AI summary)

The term crest is employed in literature with a rich variety of meanings, ranging from a literal peak or summit to an emblematic marker of identity and honor. In heraldic contexts, crest denotes an ornamental device or charge—such as a monkey statant or a hound’s head—that crowns a coat of arms and signifies noble lineage and rank ([1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]). At the same time, the word evokes images of physical and natural high points, whether describing the top of a hill or the crest of a wave, thus adding a dynamic layer to narrative settings ([7], [8], [9], [10]). In some literary moments, crest also carries metaphorical weight, symbolizing the pinnacle or downfall of a character’s spirit ([11], [12]).
  1. Crest: a monkey statant proper, environed about the middle with a plain collar, and chained or. Supporters: two monkeys (as the crest).
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  2. A curious use of coronets in a crest will be found in the crest of Sir Archibald Dunbar, Bart.
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  3. The crest is the head and neck of a hound sable, continued into a mantling sable, lined argent.
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  4. Crest: a dexter hand raised in benediction.
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  5. Crest: out of a coronet gules, a swan's head and neck proper, beaked gules, between two wings also proper.
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  6. The Royal labels are placed across the shield, on the crest, and on each of the supporters.
    — from A Complete Guide to Heraldry by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies
  7. They had driven over the crest of a hill.
    — from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
  8. All in front of me was a big field of heather sloping up to a crest which was crowned with an odd feather of trees.
    — from The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan
  9. A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over the crest of the nearest hill.
    — from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
  10. The vessel leaped to the crest of a wave, and dropped sheer into the trough beyond.
    — from The Best Short Stories of 1917, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story
  11. He made speeches here, wanted to show off his learning and he went out crest-fallen....”
    — from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
  12. But they floated as lightly as one of their own feathers on the breaking crest.
    — from Twice-told tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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