crescent

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
crescent /ˈkrɛz(ə)nt, -s-/

▶noun

• 1 the curved shape of the waxing or waning moon.

• 2 a thing which has the shape of a single curve, especially when broad in the centre and tapering to a point at each end.

  ■ chiefly Brit. a street or terrace of houses forming an arc.

• 3 (the Crescent) chiefly historical the political power of Islam or of the Ottoman Empire.

▶adjective

• 1 having the shape of a crescent: a crescent moon.

• 2 literary growing, increasing, or developing.

– derivatives
crescentic /-ˈsɛntɪk/ adjective.

– origin ME cressant, from OFr. creissant, from L. crescere ‘grow’; sense 3 is from the crescent-shaped emblem of Islam or Turkey.