English
cross
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: [kʰɹɒs] (also, especially formerly [kʰɹɔːs])
  • (America) IPA: [kʰɹɔs]
  • (cot-caught, Canada) IPA: [kʰɹɑs]
Noun

cross (plural crosses)

  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. (heraldiccharge) 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.
    • 1811, Walter Scott, The Vision of Don Roderick:
      Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray.
    • '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.
    • '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.
    • 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. (football) A pass in which the ball travels from by one touchline across the pitch.
  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.
    • c. 1598–1600, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act II, scene iv]:
      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.
  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
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: signe de croix
  • German: Kreuzzeichen
  • Portuguese: sinal da cruz
  • Russian: крест
Translations Translations Translations Translations 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.
    • 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.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, OCLC 54573970 ↗:
      , 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.
    • a cross fortune
    • the cross and unlucky issue of my design
    • The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvellously cross to the common experience of mankind.
    • 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.
    • 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 Translations Translations Translations Preposition
  1. (archaic) across
    She walked cross the mountains.
    • 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.
Related terms Translations
  • Portuguese: produto vetorial
Verb

cross (crosses, present participle crossing; 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.Crossed letter
      • 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.
    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.
      • 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. (football) 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.
  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.
      • c. 1591–1592, William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
        to cross me from the golden time I look for
    3. (legal) 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 Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: faire le signe de la croix, signer
  • German: sich bekreuzigen
  • Portuguese: persignar-se, fazer o sinal da cruz
  • Russian: крести́ться
  • Spanish: santiguarse, persignarse
Translations
Cross
Proper noun
  1. (Christianity) Alternative spelling of cross; sometimes used when referring to the historical cross on which Jesus died
Synonyms Proper noun
  1. Surname for someone who lived near a stone cross on a road.


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