crease
(krēs)n.1. A line made by pressing, folding, or wrinkling.
2. Sports a. In hockey, an area marked in front of the goal in which an offensive player can score a goal only if the puck reaches the area before the player does.
b. In lacrosse, the circle marked around the goal into which offensive players cannot enter.
c. One of the lines in cricket marking off the positions of the bowler and batter or the space between two of these lines.
v. creased, creas·ing, creas·es
v.tr.1. To make a pressed, folded, or wrinkled line in.
2. To graze or wound superficially with a bullet.
v.intr. To become wrinkled.
[Alteration of creaste, perhaps from Middle English creste, ridge; see crest.]
crease′less adj.
crease′proof′ adj.
creas′er n.
creas′y adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.