cross
Forms
- Plural
- crosses
- Comparative
- crosser
- Superlative
- crossest
Definitions
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.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.
3.Any geometric figure having this or a similar shape, such as a cross of Lorraine or a Maltese cross.
4.Alternative letter-case form of Cross (“the Crucifix, the cross on which Christ was crucified”).
1.Transverse; lying across the main direction.
- At the end of each row were cross benches which linked the rows.
2.(of someone) Bad-tempered, angry, annoyed; (of words) tinged with anger.
- They exchanged a few cross words.
- Please don't get cross at me. (or) Please don't get cross with me.
- She was rather cross about missing her train on the first day of the job.
3.Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged.
4.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.
- 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.
Frequency
Overall
Common· #1537
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Uncommon
- General reading & writing
- Common
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Uncommon
Related words
Synonyms
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 rode, from Old English rōd (“cross”); see English rood. Doublet of crouch (“cross”) and crux. Compare Welsh croes, Irish crois.