Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Cresset

Cresset (kr?s"s?t) , noun

[Old French crasset, cresset, sort of lamp or torch; perh. of Dutch or German origin, and akin to English cruse, French creuset crucible, English crucible.]

1.
An open frame or basket of iron, filled with combustible material, to be burned as a beacon; an open lamp or firepan 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