cross

English Online Dictionary. What means cross‎? What does cross mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English cross, cros, from Old English cros (“rood, cross”), from Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin crux (crucī). In this sense displaced native Middle English rood, from Old English rōd; see rood. 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/
• (General American) enPR: krôs, IPA^(key): /kɹɔs/
• (cot–caught merger, dialects of Canada) enPR: krŏs, IPA^(key): /kɹɑs/
• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /kɹɒs/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /kɹɔs/, /kɹɒs/
• Rhymes: -ɒs, -ɔːs

Noun

cross (plural crosses)

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; chi, χ, (marks meaning yes or no) tick, check, checkmark, ❎, ❌

4. (heraldry) Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.

   Hypernym: charge

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: gibbet, gallows

8. (Christianity) Alternative letter-case form of Cross (“the Crucifix, the cross on which Christ was crucified”).
9. (Christianity) A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross; sign of the cross.

11. (Christianity) Any representation of the crucifix, as in religious architecture, burial markers, jewelry, etc.

    Synonym: crucifix

12. (figurative, from Christ's bearing of the cross) A difficult situation that must be endured.
13. The act of going across; the act of passing from one side to the other

14. (biology) An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.
15. (by extension) A hybrid of any kind.
16. (boxing) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.
17. (soccer) A pass in which the ball is kicked from a side of the pitch to a position close to the opponent’s goal.
18. A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross).
19. A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross)
20. (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.
21. (obsolete, Ireland) Church lands.
22. A line across or through another line.
23. (surveying) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
24. A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.
25. (Rubik's Cube) Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.
26. (cartomancy) The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.
27. (archaic) A betrayal; dishonest practices, especially deliberately losing a sporting contest.
28. (slang) Crossfire.

Synonyms

• (production of cross-breeding or -fertilization): hybrid
• (cross on which Christ was crucified): True Cross
• (hand gesture): sign of the cross

Derived terms

}}

Related terms

Descendants

• → Japanese: クロス (kurosu)

Translations

Adjective

cross (comparative crosser, superlative crossest)

1. Transverse; lying across the main direction.
2. (archaic) Opposite, opposed to.

3. (now rare) Opposing, adverse; being contrary to what one would hope or wish for.
   • , 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.

   • 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.
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.
7. (archaic) Dishonest.

Synonyms

• (opposite to): contrarily, opposed, reverse, antipodal
• (mildly angry): angry, annoyed, irritated

Derived terms

Translations

Preposition

cross

1. (archaic) Across.
2. The cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.

Derived terms

• cross lots

Translations

See also

• dot
• × (the multiplication sign)

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.

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

   3. To mark with an X.

   4. To write lines of text at right angles to and over the top of one another in order to save paper.^W
   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).
   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.
   2. (intransitive) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.

   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.

      3. (rugby) To score a try.
3. (social) To oppose.
   1. (transitive) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.
   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.
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.

Conjugation

Synonyms

• (to cross-fertilize or crossbreed): cross-fertilize, crossbreed

Hyponyms

• crisscross

Derived terms

Translations

Basque

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kros̺/ [kros̺]
• Rhymes: -os̺

Noun

cross inan

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

Declension

Further reading

• “cross”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

French

Etymology

From English.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kʁɔs/

Noun

cross m (uncountable)

1. (sports) cross-country

Further reading

• “cross”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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

• crossista

Middle English

Alternative forms

• cros, croz, crosse, crosce

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

• IPA^(key): /krɔs/

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

• English: cross
  • → Japanese: クロス (kurosu)
• Scots: cross, cros

References

• “cros, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

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))

Declension

References

• cross in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• cross in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)