cross

See also: Cross, crôs, and cross-

English

Alternative forms
  • Cross (sometimes for the historical cross of Christ)

Etymology

From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross (“cross”), perhaps from Old Irish cros (compare Welsh croes, Irish crois), from Latin crux (cruci). Cognate with Icelandic kross (“cross”), Faroese krossur (“cross”), Danish kors (“cross”), Swedish kors (“cross”). Displaced native Middle English rood (“rood, cross”), from Old English rōd (“cross, rood, crucifix, pole”); see rood. The sense of "two intersecting lines drawn or cut on a surface; two lines intersecting at right angles" without regard to religious signification develops from the late 14th century.

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /kɹɒs/ (also, especially formerly enPR: krôs, IPA(key): /kɹɔːs/)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /kɹɔs/
  • (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /kɹɑs/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (AU)(file)
  • Audio(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

The cross on a Rubik's Cube
  1. A geometrical figure consisting of two straight lines or bars intersecting each other such that at least one of them is bisected by the other.
    Put a cross for a wrong answer and a tick for a right one.
  2. (heraldry) Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.
  3. A wooden post with a perpendicular beam attached and used (especially in the Roman Empire) to execute criminals (by crucifixion).
    Criminals were commonly executed on a wooden cross.
  4. (usually with the) The cross on which Christ was crucified.
  5. (Christianity) A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross.
    She made the cross after swearing.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray.
    • Cowper
      'Tis where the cross is preached.
  6. (Christianity) A modified representation of the crucifixion stake, worn as jewellery or displayed as a symbol of religious devotion.
    She was wearing a cross on her necklace.
  7. (figurative, from Christ's bearing of the cross) A difficult situation that must be endured.
    It's a cross I must bear.
    • Ben Jonson
      Heaven prepares a good man with crosses.
  8. The act of going across; the act of passing from one side to the other
    A quick cross of the road.
  9. (biology) An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.
  10. (by extension) A hybrid of any kind.
    • Lord Dufferin
      Toning down the ancient Viking into a sort of a cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy Diddler
  11. (boxing) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
  12. (soccer) A pass in which the ball travels from by one touchline across the pitch.
    • 2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC‎:
      And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside.
  13. A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross).
  14. A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross)
  15. (obsolete) A coin stamped with the figure of a cross, or that side of such a piece on which the cross is stamped; hence, money in general.
    • Shakespeare
      I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse.
  16. (obsolete, Ireland) Church lands.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir J. Davies to this entry?)
  17. A line drawn across or through another line.
  18. (surveying) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
  19. A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.
  20. (Rubik's Cube) Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.
  21. (cartomancy) The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.

Synonyms
  • (production of cross-breeding or -fertilization): hybrid
  • (cross on which Christ was crucified): True Cross

Derived terms
Terms derived from cross (noun)

Descendants

Translations
wooden post with a perpendicular beam, used for crucifixion
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adjective

cross (comparative crosser, superlative crossest)

  1. Transverse; lying across the main direction.
    At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.
    • Isaac Newton
      the cross refraction of the second prism
  2. (archaic) Opposite, opposed to.
    His actions were perversely cross to his own happiness.
  3. (now rare) Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Printed by Iohn Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 216894069; The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd corrected and augmented edition, Oxford: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, 1624, OCLC 54573970, (please specify |partition=1, 2, or 3):
      , New York Review of Books, 2001, p.50:
      As a fat body is more subject to diseases, so are rich men to absurdities and fooleries, to many casualties and cross inconveniences.
    • Jeremy Taylor
      a cross fortune
    • Glanvill
      the cross and unlucky issue of my design
    • South
      The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvellously cross to the common experience of mankind.
    • Dryden
      We are both love's captives, but with fates so cross, / One must be happy by the other's loss.
  4. Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed.
    She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.
    Please don't get cross at me. (or) Please don't get cross with me.
    • Jeremy Taylor
      He had received a cross answer from his mistress.
  5. Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged.
    cross interrogatories
    cross marriages, as when a brother and sister marry persons standing in the same relation to each other

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from cross (adjective)

Translations

Preposition

cross

  1. (archaic) across
    She walked cross the mountains.
    • L'Estrange
      A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village.
  2. cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.
    The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.

Translations
across — see across

Verb

cross (third-person singular simple present crosses, present participle crossing, simple past and past participle crossed)

  1. To make or form a cross.
    1. To place across or athwart; to cause to intersect.
      She frowned and crossed her arms.
    2. To lay or draw something across, such as a line.
      to cross the letter t
    3. To mark with an X.
      Cross the box which applies to you.
    4. To write lines at right angles.W
      • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
        An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
    5. (reflexive, to cross oneself) To make the sign of the cross over oneself.
  2. To move relatively.
    1. (transitive) To go from one side of (something) to the other.
      Why did the chicken cross the road?
      You need to cross the street at the lights.
      • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
        Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: or anon we shot into a clearing, with a colored glimpse of the lake and its curving shore far below us.
      • 2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport:
        Ukraine, however, will complain long and hard about a contentious second-half incident when Marko Devic's shot clearly crossed the line before it was scrambled away by John Terry, only for the officials to remain unmoved.
    2. (intransitive) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.
      Ships crossing from starboard have right-of-way.
    3. (transitive) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.
    4. (sports) Relative movement by a player or of players.
      1. (cricket, reciprocally) Of both batsmen, to pass each other when running between the wickets in order to score runs.
      2. (soccer) To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.
        He crossed the ball into the penalty area.
      3. (rugby) To score a try.
        • 2011 February 12, Mark Orlovac, “England 59-13 Italy”, in BBC:
          England cut loose at the end of the half, Ashton, Mark Cueto and Mike Tindall all crossing before the break.
  3. (social) To oppose.
    1. (transitive) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.
      "You'll rue the day you tried to cross me, Tom Hero!" bellowed the villain.
    2. (transitive, obsolete) To interfere and cut off; to debar.
    3. (law) To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.
  4. (biology) To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.
    They managed to cross a sheep with a goat.
  5. To stamp or mark a cheque in such a way as to prevent it being cashed, thus requiring it to be deposited into a bank account.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /kʁɔs/

Noun

cross m (uncountable)

  1. (sports) cross-country

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

From English.

Noun

cross m (invariable)

  1. motocross
  2. cross (boxing punch, tennis shot)
  3. slice (golf shot)

Derived terms

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old English cros, borrowed from Old Norse kross, borrowed from Old Irish cros, borrowed from Latin crux.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /krɔs/

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

  1. the Holy Cross; Christ's cross.
  2. A representation of the cross of Christ; the cross as a Christian symbol, including:
    1. The sign of the cross.
    2. A crucifix or crosier.
    3. (figuratively) The cross in Christian metaphors, such as:
      1. crucifixion
      2. suffering, penury
      3. (biblical) Christianity
  3. The cross as a symbol elsewhere, for example:
    1. The intersection of drawn lines, especially as a signature.
    2. (heraldry) A heraldic cross
  4. gallows, gibbet

Descendants

References
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