Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#CROSSCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#CROSS cross, cros, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#CROSSCategory:English terms derived from Old English#CROSS cros (“rood, cross”), from Old NorseCategory:English terms derived from Old Norse#CROSS kross, from Old IrishCategory:English terms derived from Old Irish#CROSS cros, from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#CROSS crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rode, from Old English rōd (“cross”); see English rood. Doublet of crouch (“cross”) and cruxCategory:English doublets#CROSS. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois.

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) enPR: krŏs, IPA^(key): /kɹɒs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS
• (dialects of the US, lot–cloth split) enPR: krôs, IPA^(key): /kɹɔs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS
• (General American, cot–caught merger, dialects of Canada) enPR: krŏs, IPA^(key): /kɹɑs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CROSS
• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /kɹɒs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS

  • Audio (Southern Ontario):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CROSS
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /kɹɔs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS

  • Audio (Queensland):

    (file)

    Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#CROSS
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kɹɒs/, [kɹɔ̟s]Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /kɹɔs/Category:English 1-syllable words#CROSSCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#CROSS
• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːsCategory:Rhymes:English/ɒs#CROSSCategory:Rhymes:English/ɒs/1 syllable#CROSSCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔːs#CROSSCategory:Rhymes:English/ɔːs/1 syllable#CROSS

Noun

cross (plural crosses)Category:English lemmas#CROSSCategory:English nouns#CROSSCategory:English countable nouns#CROSSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CROSSCategory:Pages with entries#CROSSCategory:Pages with 6 entries#CROSS

2. 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.

   Coordinate terms: (similar shapes) tee, T, t; ex, x; chiCategory:English links with manual fragments#CROSS, χ, (marks meaning yes or no) tick, check, checkmark, ❎Category:English terms in nonstandard scripts#CROSS, ❌Category:English terms in nonstandard scripts#CROSS

   Put a cross for a wrong answer and a tick for a right one.

   Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

4. (heraldryCategory:en:Heraldry#CROSS) Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.

   Hypernym: charge

   Hyponyms: cross flory, cross crosslet, cross moline, cross pattée, cross bottony, see others

6. A wooden post with a perpendicular beam attached and used (especially in the Roman Empire) to execute criminals (by crucifixion).

   Synonym: crucifix

   Coordinate terms: gibbetCategory:English links with manual fragments#CROSS, gallows

   Criminals were commonly executed on a wooden cross.

   Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

8. (ChristianityCategory:en:Christianity#CROSS) Alternative letter-case form of Cross (“the Crucifix, the cross on which Christ was crucified”).

   True Cross

   • 1811, Walter Scott, The Vision of Don Roderick; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, stanza XXVII, page 31:

     From the dim landscape roll the clouds away— / The Christians have regained their heritage; / Before the Cross has waned the Crescent's ray, / And many a monastery decks the stage, / And lofty church, and low-brow'd hermitage.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

9. (ChristianityCategory:en:Christianity#CROSS) A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross; sign of the cross.

   Synonym: sign of the cross

   She made the cross after swearing.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

11. (ChristianityCategory:en:Christianity#CROSS) Any representation of the crucifix, as in religious architecture, burial markers, jewelry, etc.

    Synonym: crucifix

    She was wearing a cross on her necklace.

    Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

12. (figurative, from Christ's bearing of the cross) A difficult situation that must be endured.

    It's a cross I must bear.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Timber:

      Heaven prepares good men with crosses.

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    • 1995, “You Oughta Know”, in Jagged Little Pill, performed by Alanis Morissette:

      It's not fair to deny me / Of the cross I bear that you gave to me / You, you, you oughta know

      Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

13. The act of going across; the act of passing from one side to the other

    A quick cross of the road.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

14. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#CROSS) An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.

    Synonym: hybrid

15. One element of a hybrid species or type.
    • 1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 471:

      The native Amboynese who reside in the city are a strange half-civilized, half-savage lazy people, who seem to be a mixture of at least three races - Portuguese, Malay, and Papuan or Ceramese, with an occasional cross of Chinese or Dutch.

      Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

16. (by extension) A hybrid of any kind.
    • 1856, Lord Dufferin, Letters from High Latitudes:

      Toning down the ancient Viking into a sort of a cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy Diddler

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17. (boxingCategory:en:Boxing#CROSS) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
18. (soccerCategory:en:Football (soccer)#CROSS) A pass in which the ball is kicked from a side of the pitch to a position close to the opponent’s goal.
    • 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.

      Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

19. A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross).
20. A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross)
21. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CROSS) 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.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv]:

      I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse.

      Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

22. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CROSS, IrelandCategory:Irish English#CROSS) Church lands.
    • 1612, John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

      the church-lands lying within the same, which were called the Cross

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23. A line across or through another line.
24. (surveyingCategory:en:Surveying#CROSS) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
25. A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.
26. (Rubik's CubeCategory:en:Rubik's Cube#CROSS) Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.
27. (cartomancyCategory:en:Cartomancy#CROSS) The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.
28. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#CROSS) A betrayal; dishonest practices, especially deliberately losing a sporting contest.
29. (slangCategory:English slang#CROSS) Crossfire.

Adjective

cross (comparative crosser, superlative crossest)Category:English lemmas#CROSSCategory:English adjectives#CROSSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CROSSCategory:Pages with entries#CROSSCategory:Pages with 6 entries#CROSS

1. Transverse; lying across the main direction.

   At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   • 1704, I[saac] N[ewton], “(please specify |book=1 to 3)”, in Opticks: Or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light. […], London: […] Sam[uel] Smith, and Benj[amin] Walford, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC:

     the cross refraction of the second prism

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

2. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#CROSS) Opposite, opposed to.

   Synonyms: contrarily, opposed, reverse, antipodal

   His actions were perversely cross to his own happiness.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

3. (now rareCategory:English terms with rare senses#CROSS) Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.
   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
     , 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.

   • c. 1650, Jeremy Taylor, Of Contentedness:

     a cross fortune

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   • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica: Or, Confest Ignorance, the Way to Science; […], London: […] E. C[otes] for Henry Eversden […], →OCLC:

     the cross and unlucky issue of my designs

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   • 1694, Robert South, Christianity Mysterious, and the Wisdom of God in Making it So (sermon preached at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 1694)

     The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvellously cross to the common experience of mankind.

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     We are both love's captives, but with fates so cross, / One must be happy by the other's loss.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

4. (chiefly BritishCategory:British English#CROSS, Ottawa Valley) (of someone) Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed; (of words) tinged with anger.

   Synonyms: angry, annoyed, irritated

   They exchanged a few cross words.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   Please don't get cross at me. (or) Please don't get cross with me.

   • 1650/1651, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     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

6. (nauticalCategory:en:Nautical#CROSS) Of the sea, having two wave systems traveling at oblique angles, due to the wind over shifting direction or the waves of two storm systems meeting.
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 15:

     As my father remarked to me when I stole on deck to view the state of affairs, the sea was a "cross one," and very difficult to steer against.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

7. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#CROSS) Dishonest.

Preposition

crossCategory:English lemmas#CROSSCategory:English prepositions#CROSSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CROSSCategory:Pages with entries#CROSSCategory:Pages with 6 entries#CROSS

1. (archaicCategory:English terms with archaic senses#CROSS) Across.

   She walked cross the mountains.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

2. The cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.

   The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

Verb

cross (third-person singular simple present crosses, present participle crossing, simple past and past participle crossed)Category:English lemmas#CROSSCategory:English verbs#CROSSCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#CROSSCategory:Pages with entries#CROSSCategory:Pages with 6 entries#CROSS

1. To make or form a cross.
   1. To place across or athwart; to cause to intersect.

      She frowned and crossed her arms.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   2. To lay or draw something across, such as a line.

      to cross the letter tCategory:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   3. To mark with an X.

      Cross the box which applies to you.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   4. To write lines of text at right angles to and over the top of one another in order to save paper.( Crossed letter on WikipediaWikipedia )
      • 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’.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   5. (reflexiveCategory:English reflexive verbs#CROSS, to cross oneself) To make the sign of the cross over oneself.
      • 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini's Daughter”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

        Again Beatrice crossed herself and sighed heavily as she bent over the dead insect.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   6. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) To make the sign of the cross over (something or someone).
      • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298:

        "Well, no! that's what I cannot make out either," said the mother quite innocently, "for I've had castor in the cradle, - I have crossed him, and I put a silver brooch in his shirt, and I stuck a knife in the beam over the door, so I don't know how they could have managed to change him."

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   7. (UKCategory:British English#CROSS, Oxford UniversityCategory:Oxford University English#CROSS, slangCategory:English slang#CROSS, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CROSS, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) To mark a cross against the name of (a student) in the buttery or kitchen, so that they cannot get food there.
      • 2022, Andrew Lang, Oxford

        The reign of Mary was scarcely more favourable to letters. No one knew what to be at in religion. In Magdalen no one could be found to say Mass, the fellows were turned out, the undergraduates were whipped — boyish martyrs — and crossed at the buttery.

2. To move relatively.
   1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) To go from one side of (something) to the other.

      Why did the chicken cross the road?Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

      You need to cross the street at the lights.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

      • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

        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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

      • 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.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

      • 2021 December 29, Philip Haigh, “Rail's role in unifying Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, in RAIL, number 947, page 24:

        Whatever the merits or otherwise of Scottish independence or a united UK, plenty of people cross the border every year.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   2. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#CROSS) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.

      Ships crossing from starboard have right-of-way.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.
      • November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten Esq.

        Your kind letter crossed mine.

   4. (sportsCategory:en:Sports#CROSS) Relative movement by a player or of players.
      1. (cricketCategory:en:Cricket#CROSS, reciprocally) Of both batsmen, to pass each other when running between the wickets in order to score runs.
      2. (soccerCategory:en:Football (soccer)#CROSS) To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.

         He crossed the ball into the penalty area.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

      3. (rugbyCategory:en:Rugby#CROSS) 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.

           Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

3. (social) To oppose.
   1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.

      "You'll rue the day you tried to cross me, Tom Hero!" bellowed the villain.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

      • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

        At length I begged him, with all the earnestness I felt, to tell me what had occurred to cross him so unusually, and to let me sympathize with him, if I could not hope to advise him.

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

      • 1995, “Gangsta's Paradise”, in Artis Ivey, Jr., Karry Sanders, Doug Rasheed (lyrics), Gangsta's Paradise (CD), performed by Coolio and L.V., Tommy Boy, →OCLC:

        But I ain't never crossed a man that didn't deserve it / Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of / You better watch how you talkin' and where you walkin' / Or you and your homies might be lined in chalk

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#CROSS) To interfere and cut off ; to debar.
      • c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

        to cross me from the golden time I look for

        Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

   3. (lawCategory:en:Law#CROSS) To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.
4. (biologyCategory:en:Biology#CROSS) To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.

   Synonyms: cross-fertilize, crossbreed

   They managed to cross a sheep with a goat.Category:English terms with usage examples#CROSS

   • 1978, Kim Applegate Peggs, Carpenter, volume 96, page 16:

     Question: What do you get when you cross an elephant with a rhino?
     Answer : El-if-I-no.

     Category:English terms with quotations#CROSS

5. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#CROSS) 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.
   • 1924, Commerce Reports, volume 1, number 13, page 849:

     The English practice of crossing checks so that payment may be made to the bank account or to order is prevalent.

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