Cream \Cream\ (kr[=e]m), n. [F. cr[^e]me, perh. fr. LL.
         crema
   cream of milk; cf. L. cremor thick juice or broth,
         perh. akin
   to cremare to burn.]
   1. The rich, oily,
         and yellowish part of milk, which, when
      the milk
         stands unagitated, rises, and collects on the
     
         surface. It is the part of milk from which butter is
     
         obtained.
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   2. The part of any
         liquor that rises, and collects on the
      surface.
         [R.]
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   3. A delicacy of several
         kinds prepared for the table from
      cream, etc., or so
         as to resemble cream.
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   4. A
         cosmetic; a creamlike medicinal preparation.
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         Webster]

            In vain she tries her paste and creams,
            To smooth her skin or hide its seams. --Goldsmith.
     
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   5. The best or choicest part of a
         thing; the quintessence;
      as, the cream of a jest or
         story; the cream of a
      collection of books or
         pictures.
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            Welcome, O flower and cream of knights errant.
                                                  --Shelton.
     
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   Bavarian cream, a preparation of gelatin, cream,
         sugar, and
      eggs, whipped; -- to be eaten cold.

  
         Cold cream, an
         ointment made of white wax, almond oil,
         rose
      water, and borax, and used as a salve for the
         hands and
      lips.

   Cream cheese, a kind of
         cheese made from curd from which
      the cream has not
         been taken off, or to which cream has
      been added.


           Cream gauge, an
         instrument to test milk, being usually
         a
      graduated glass tube in which the milk is placed
         for the
      cream to rise.

   Cream nut, the Brazil
         nut.

   Cream of
         lime.
      (a) A scum of calcium
         carbonate which forms on a solution
          of milk of lime from the carbon dioxide of the air.
     
         (b) A thick creamy emulsion of lime in water.

   {Cream
         of tartar} (Chem.), purified tartar or argol; so
     
         called because of the crust of crystals which forms on the

              surface of the liquor in the process of purification
         by
      recrystallization. It is a white crystalline
         substance,
      with a gritty acid taste, and is used very
         largely as an
      ingredient of baking powders; -- called
         also potassium
         bitartrate, {acid potassium
         tartrate}, etc.
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