Definition of "creese"

‘[S]hould any of the men discover you, certainly you will have one of their creeses up to the hilt in your guts.’

1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 103

[…] near it is a cluster of weapons of villanous aspect, comprising every thing from a Malayan creese to a sailor's jackknife or a Smith & Wesson revolver.

1887, Julian Hawthorne, A Tragic Mystery: From the Diary of Inspector Byrnes, page 25

Attributing this to accident, or some impropriety of conduct on the part of the sailor, he went to enquire personally into the affair; but had no sooner approached the head Boorghese, than the fellow creesed him also, and he fell dead at his feet.

1799, The Gentleman's Magazine, volume 85, page 170