Definition of Cross

  • (n.) A gibbet, consisting of two pieces of timber placed transversely upon one another, in various forms, as a T, or +, with the horizontal piece below the upper end of the upright, or as an X. It was anciently used in the execution of criminals.
  • (n.) The sign or mark of the cross, made with the finger, or in ink, etc., or actually represented in some material; the symbol of Christ's death; the ensign and chosen symbol of Christianity, of a Christian people, and of Christendom.
  • (n.) Affiction regarded as a test of patience or virtue; trial; disappointment; opposition; misfortune.
  • (n.) A piece of money stamped with the figure of a cross, also, that side of such a piece on which the cross is stamped; hence, money in general.
  • (n.) An appendage or ornament or anything in the form of a cross; a badge or ornamental device of the general shape of a cross; hence, such an ornament, even when varying considerably from that form; thus, the Cross of the British Order of St. George and St. Michael consists of a central medallion with seven arms radiating from it.
  • (n.) A monument in the form of a cross, or surmounted by a cross, set up in a public place; as, a market cross; a boundary cross; Charing Cross in London.
  • (n.) A common heraldic bearing, of which there are many varieties. See the Illustration, above.
  • (n.) The crosslike mark or symbol used instead of a signature by those unable to write.
  • (n.) Church lands.
  • (n.) A line drawn across or through another line.
  • (n.) A mixing of breeds or stock, especially in cattle breeding; or the product of such intermixture; a hybrid of any kind.
  • (n.) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.
  • (n.) A pipe-fitting with four branches the axes of which usually form's right angle.
  • (a.) Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse; oblique; intersecting.
  • (a.) Not accordant with what is wished or expected; interrupting; adverse; contrary; thwarting; perverse.
  • (a.) Characterized by, or in a state of, peevishness, fretfulness, or ill humor; as, a cross man or woman.
  • (a.) Made in an opposite direction, or an inverse relation; mutually inverse; interchanged; as, cross interrogatories; cross marriages, as when a brother and sister marry persons standing in the same relation to each other.
  • (prep.) Athwart; across.
  • (v. t.) To put across or athwart; to cause to intersect; as, to cross the arms.
  • (v. t.) To lay or draw something, as a line, across; as, to cross the letter t.
  • (v. t.) To pass from one side to the other of; to pass or move over; to traverse; as, to cross a stream.
  • (v. t.) To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time.
  • (v. t.) To run counter to; to thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to clash or interfere with.
  • (v. t.) To interfere and cut off; to debar.
  • (v. t.) To make the sign of the cross upon; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun; as, he crossed himself.
  • (v. t.) To cancel by marking crosses on or over, or drawing a line across; to erase; -- usually with out, off, or over; as, to cross out a name.
  • (v. t.) To cause to interbreed; -- said of different stocks or races; to mix the breed of.
  • (v. i.) To lie or be athwart.
  • (v. i.) To move or pass from one side to the other, or from place to place; to make a transit; as, to cross from New York to Liverpool.
  • (v. i.) To be inconsistent.
  • (v. i.) To interbreed, as races; to mix distinct breeds.

Antonyms of Cross


Homophones of Cross