Definition of "cross"

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

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

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

(Christianity) Usually with the: the cross on which Christ was crucified.  quotations  examples

(Christianity) A hand gesture made in imitation of the shape of the Cross.  examples

(Christianity) A modified representation of the crucifixion stake, worn as jewellery or displayed as a symbol of religious devotion.  examples

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

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

(biology) An animal or plant produced by crossbreeding or cross-fertilization.

(by extension) A hybrid of any kind.  quotations  examples

(boxing) A hook thrown over the opponent's punch.  examples

(soccer) A pass in which the ball is kicked from a side of the pitch to a position close to the opponent’s goal.  quotations  examples

A place where roads intersect and lead off in four directions; a crossroad (common in UK and Irish place names such as Gerrards Cross).  examples

A monument that marks such a place. (Also common in UK or Irish place names such as Charing Cross)  examples

(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.  quotations

(obsolete, Ireland) Church lands.  quotations

A line drawn across or through another line.  examples

(surveying) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.  examples

A pipe-fitting with four branches whose axes usually form a right angle.  examples

(Rubik's Cube) Four edge cubies of one side that are in their right places, forming the shape of a cross.  examples

(cartomancy) The thirty-sixth Lenormand card.  examples

(slang) crossfire.

Transverse; lying across the main direction.  quotations  examples

(archaic) Opposite, opposed to.

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

(chiefly Britain) Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed.  quotations  examples

Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged.  examples

(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.  quotations  examples

(archaic) across  quotations

cross product of the previous vector and the following vector.  examples

To make or form a cross.

1. To place across or athwart; to cause to intersect.  examples

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

3. To mark with an X.  examples

4. To write lines of text at right angles to and over the top of one another in order to save paper.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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’.

     1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins

5. (reflexive, to cross oneself) To make the sign of the cross over oneself.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

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

     1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Rappaccini's Daughter”, in Mosses from an Old Manse

6. (transitive) To make the sign of the cross over (something or someone).  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • "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."

     1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 298

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.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2022, Andrew Lang, Oxford

To move relatively.

1. (transitive) To go from one side of (something) to the other.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     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.

   • 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.

     2012 June 19, Phil McNulty, “England 1-0 Ukraine”, in BBC Sport

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

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

2. (intransitive) To travel in a direction or path that will intersect with that of another.  examples

3. (transitive) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Your kind letter crossed mine.

     November 4, 1866, James David Forbes, letter to E. C. Batten Esq.

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.  examples

   2. (soccer) To pass the ball from one side of the pitch to the other side.  examples

   3. (rugby) To score a try.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

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

        2011 February 12, Mark Orlovac, “England 59-13 Italy”, in BBC

(social) To oppose.

1. (transitive) To contradict (another) or frustrate the plans of.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

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

   • 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

     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

2. (transitive, obsolete) To interfere and cut off ; to debar.  quotations

   Quotations

   • to cross me from the golden time I look for

     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, [Act III, scene ii]

3. (law) To conduct a cross examination; to question a hostile witness.  examples

(biology) To cross-fertilize or crossbreed.  quotations

(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.  quotations  examples