cross — English Dictionary

cross
Word-form referencesCross
Pronunciations (14)
  • /kɹɒs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Northern-England
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /kɹɔs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • British
    • Southern
    • Standard
  • /kɾɒs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Wales
  • /kɾɔs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Scotland
  • /kɹɔs/
  • /kɹɑs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • cot-caught-merger
  • /kɹɒs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Eastern-New-England
  • /kɹɒs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Canada
  • /kɹɔs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Australia
  • /kɹɒs/
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • [kɹɔ̟s]
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • [kɹɞ̠s]
    Pronunciation notes
    • New-Zealand
  • kɹɒs
    Pronunciation notes
    • GB
  • kɹɔs
    Pronunciation notes
    • US

Noun

  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.

    Examples

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

  2. Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.

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

    Synonyms
    Examples

    Criminals were commonly executed on a wooden cross.

  4. A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross; sign of the cross.

    Examples

    She made the cross after swearing.

  5. Any representation of the crucifix, as in religious architecture, burial markers, jewelry, etc.

    Synonyms
    Examples

    She was wearing a cross on her necklace.

  6. A difficult situation that must be endured.

    Usage
    • Figurative
    • from Christ's bearing of the cross
    Examples

    It's a cross I must bear.

    Heaven prepares good men with crosses.

    More examples (1)

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

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

    Examples

    A quick cross of the road.

  8. An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.

    Synonyms
  9. One element of a hybrid species or type.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

  10. A hybrid of any kind.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples

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

  11. A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.

  12. A pass in which the ball is kicked from a side of the pitch to a position close to the opponent’s goal.

    Examples

    And Stamford Bridge erupted with joy as Florent Malouda slotted in a cross from Drogba, who had stayed just onside.

    More German peril would follow as Joshua Kimmich swung in a cross for Havertz, whose well-placed header was majestically saved by Yahia Fofana.

  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. 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.

    Usage
    • Obsolete
    Examples

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

  16. Church lands.

    Usage
    • Ireland
    • Obsolete
    Examples

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

  17. A line across or through another line.

  18. 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. Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.

  21. The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.

  22. A betrayal; dishonest practices, especially deliberately losing a sporting contest.

    Usage
    • Archaic
  23. Crossfire.

    Usage
    • Slang

Adjective

  1. Transverse; lying across the main direction.

    Examples

    At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.

    the cross refraction of the second prism

  2. Opposite, opposed to.

    Usage
    • Archaic
    Examples

    His actions were perversely cross to his own happiness.

  3. Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.

    Usage
    • Archaic
    Examples

    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

    More examples (3)

    the cross and unlucky issue of my designs

    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. (of someone) Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed; (of words) tinged with anger.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    Examples

    They exchanged a few cross words.

    She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.

    More examples (2)

    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.

    Examples

    cross interrogatories

    cross marriages, as when a brother and sister marry persons standing in the same relation to each other

  6. 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.

    Examples

    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.

  7. Dishonest.

    Usage
    • Archaic

Preposition

  1. Across.

    Usage
    • Archaic
    Examples

    She walked cross the mountains.

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

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

    Examples

    The Lorentz force is q times v cross B.

Verb

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

    Examples

    She frowned and crossed her arms.

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

    Examples

    to cross the letter t

  3. To make or form a cross. To mark with an X.

    Examples

    Cross the box which applies to you.

  4. To make or form a cross. 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 )

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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. To make or form a cross. To make the sign of the cross over oneself.

    Usage
    • Reflexive
    Examples

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

  6. To make or form a cross. To make the sign of the cross over (something or someone).

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    "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. To make or form a cross. To mark a cross against the name of (a student) in the buttery or kitchen, so that they cannot get food there.

    Usage
    • UK usage
    • Obsolete
    • Slang
    • Transitive
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    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.

  8. To move relatively. To go from one side of (something) to the other.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    Why did the chicken cross the road?

    You need to cross the street at the lights.

    More examples (3)

    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.

    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.

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

  9. To move relatively. To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.

    Usage
    • Intransitive
    Examples

    Ships crossing from starboard have right-of-way.

  10. To move relatively. To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten Esq. Your kind letter crossed mine.

  11. To move relatively. Relative movement by a player or of players. Of both batsmen, to pass each other when running between the wickets in order to score runs.

  12. To move relatively. Relative movement by a player or of players. To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.

    Examples

    He crossed the ball into the penalty area.

  13. To move relatively. Relative movement by a player or of players. To score a try.

    Examples

    England cut loose at the end of the half, Ashton, Mark Cueto and Mike Tindall all crossing before the break.

  14. To oppose. To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

    "You'll rue the day you tried to cross me, Tom Hero!" bellowed the villain.

    More examples (2)

    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.

    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

  15. To oppose. To interfere and cut off ; to debar.

    Usage
    • Obsolete
    • Transitive
    Examples

    to cross me from the golden time I look for

  16. To oppose. To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.

  17. To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.

    Examples

    They managed to cross a sheep with a goat.

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

  18. 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.

    Usage
    • Transitive
    Examples

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

Adjective

  1. extending or lying across; in a crosswise direction; at right angles to the long axis

    Examples

    cross members should be all steel

    from the transverse hall the stairway ascends gracefully

    More examples (2)

    transversal vibrations

    transverse colon

  2. annoyed and irritable

Noun

  1. a wooden structure consisting of an upright post with a transverse piece

  2. a marking that consists of lines that cross each other

    Broader terms
  3. any affliction that causes great suffering

    Broader terms
    Examples

    that is his cross to bear

    he bears his afflictions like a crown of thorns

  4. (genetics) an organism that is the offspring of genetically dissimilar parents or stock; especially offspring produced by breeding plants or animals of different varieties or breeds or species

    Broader terms
    Examples

    a mule is a cross between a horse and a donkey

  5. (genetics) the act of mixing different species or varieties of animals or plants and thus to produce hybrids

Verb

  1. travel across or pass over

    Broader terms
    Examples

    The caravan covered almost 100 miles each day

  2. meet at a point

    Synonyms
  3. hinder or prevent (the efforts, plans, or desires) of

    Examples

    What ultimately frustrated every challenger was Ruth's amazing September surge

    foil your opponent

  4. fold so as to resemble a cross

    Antonyms
    Broader terms
    Examples

    she crossed her legs

  5. to cover or extend over an area or time period

    Broader terms
    Examples

    Rivers traverse the valley floor

    The parking lot spans 3 acres

    More examples (1)

    The novel spans three centuries

  6. meet and pass

    Broader terms
    Examples

    the trains crossed

  7. trace a line through or across

    Broader terms
    Examples

    cross your ‘t’

    dot your i's and cross your t's!

  8. breed animals or plants using parents of different races and varieties

    Broader terms
    Examples

    cross a horse and a donkey

    Mendel tried crossbreeding

    More examples (1)

    these species do not interbreed

Word forms
crossescrossercrossestcrossescrossingcrossedcrossedcrossedcrossestcrossedcrossedstcrossethcrossedcrossedcrossed

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