cross

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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”), perhaps from Old Irish cros (compare Welsh croes, Irish crois), perhaps from Latin crux (cruci). In this sense displaced native Middle English rood, from Old English rōd; 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.

cognates

Pronunciation

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

An artist's depiction of Jesus being executed on a cross
A hooked cross (swastika) inside of an iron cross
A boysenberry – a cross between several other berries
The cross, one of the steps in a popular algorithm for solving the 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. (Christianity) Alternative form of Cross The Crucifix, the cross on which Christ was crucified.
  5. (Christianity) A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross; sign of the Cross.
    She made the cross after swearing.
  6. (Christianity) Any representation of the Crucifix, as in religious architecture, burial markers, jewelery, etc.
    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.
    • 1641, Ben Jonson, Timber:
      Heaven prepares good men 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.
  11. (boxing) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
  12. (soccer) 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[1]:
      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.
  16. (obsolete, Ireland) 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
  17. A line 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.
  22. (slang) Crossfire.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from cross (noun)

Descendants

  • → Japanese: クロス (kurosu)

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. 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.
  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.
    • 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
    • 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
    • 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.
  4. (chiefly British, Ottawa Valley) 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.
    • 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. (nautical) 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.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Terms derived from cross (adjective)

Translations

Preposition

cross

  1. (archaic) Across.
    She walked cross the mountains.
  2. The cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.
    The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.

Derived terms

Translations

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 of text at right angles to and over the top of one another in order to save paper.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.
    6. (transitive) To make the sign of the cross over (something or someone).
      • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 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."
    7. (UK, Oxford University, slang, obsolete, transitive) 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. (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.
      • 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.
      • 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.
      • 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.
    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.
      • November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten Esq.
        Your kind letter crossed mine.
    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.
      • 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.
      • 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
    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.
    • 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.
  5. (transitive) 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.

Conjugation

Conjugation of cross
infinitive (to) cross
present tense past tense
1st-person singular cross crossed
2nd-person singular cross, crossest† crossed, crossedst†
3rd-person singular crosses, crosseth† crossed
plural cross
subjunctive cross crossed
imperative cross —
participles crossing crossed

†Archaic or obsolete.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Translations

Basque

Pronunciation

Noun

cross inan

  1. Proscribed spelling of kros (“cross country”)

Declension

Declension of cross (inanimate, singular only, ending in consonant)
indefinite singular
absolutive cross cross-a
ergative — cross-ak
dative — cross-ari
genitive — cross-aren
comitative — cross-arekin
causative — cross-arengatik
benefactive — cross-arentzat
instrumental cross-ez cross-az
inessive — cross-ean
locative — —
allative — —
terminative — —
directive — —
destinative — —
ablative — —
partitive cross-ik —
prolative cross-tzat —

Further reading

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

Noun

cross m (uncountable)

  1. (sports) cross-country

Further reading

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English cross.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkrɔs/
  • Rhymes: -ɔs
  • Hyphenation: cròss

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. Doublet of crouche and croys.

Pronunciation

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

  1. A cross or gibbet (wooden frame for execution).
  2. The Holy Cross; Christ's cross.
  3. A representation of a cross; the cross as a Christian symbol:
    1. (heraldry) A cross in heraldry.
    2. A crucifix (cross-shaped structure).
    3. A crosier (clerical staff)
    4. The intersection of drawn lines, especially as a signature.
  4. (figurative) The cross in Christian metaphor:
    1. Crucifixion; nailing to a cross.
    2. Suffering, penury.
    3. (biblical) Christianity; the Christian religion.
  5. The sign of the cross.

Descendants

References

Swedish

Noun

cross c

  1. a ball hit more or less diagonally across the playing field
    1. (soccer) a cross
    2. (tennis) a cross-court
  2. motocross (or similar sports)
    Synonym: motocross
  3. a motorbike (small and light motorcycle (as used in or similar to those used in motocross))
    åka cross i skogen
    ride a motorbike in the forest
    • 2000, The Latin Kings (lyrics and music), “De e knas”, in Mitt kvarter‎[2]:
      Träffade shunne på en nybaxad cross. Han frågade om jag ska ha skjuts och bjussade på ett bloss.
      Met a dude on a freshly-stolen motorbike. He asked if I need a ride and gave me a smoke.

Declension

Declension of cross
nominative genitive
singular indefinite cross cross
definite crossen crossens
plural indefinite crossar crossars
definite crossarna crossarnas

References

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