cross

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To go from one side of something to the other.

   Look both ways before you cross the road.

2. 2
   noun

   A mark or shape made of two lines crossing each other.

   Put a cross next to each wrong answer.

3. 3
   verb

   To put one thing over another in the shape of a cross.

   She sat down and crossed her legs.

4. 4
   verb

   To breed animals or plants of different types to produce a new one.

   You can cross a horse and a donkey to get a mule.

5. 5
   noun

   A wooden structure shaped like a cross, used in the past to put criminals to death.

   In Roman times, criminals were executed on a wooden cross.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Cross entered Old English from Old Norse kross and ultimately goes back to Latin crux, “cross.” It first denoted a monument shaped like a cross. The adjective meaning “annoyed” arose in the 17th century through nautical senses such as “contrary” or “adverse,” originally describing a wind blowing across a ship’s bow.

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. 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. Cognates *Icelandic kross (“cross”) *Faroese krossur (“cross”) *Norwegian Nynorsk kross, kors (“cross”) *Danish kors (“cross”) *Swedish kors…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary