n. [ OE. crois, croys, cros; the former fr. OF. crois, croiz, F. croix, fr. L. crux; the second is perh. directly fr. Prov. cros, crotz. fr. the same L. crux; cf. Icel. kross. Cf. Crucial, Crusade, Cruise, Crux. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nailed to the cross
By his own nation. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

The custom of making the sign of the cross with the hand or finger, as a means of conferring blessing or preserving from evil, is very old. Schaff-Herzog Encyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tis where the cross is preached. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Affiction regarded as a test of patience or virtue; trial; disappointment; opposition; misfortune. [ 1913 Webster ]

Heaven prepares a good man with crosses. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

I should bear no cross if I did bear you; for I think you have no money in your purse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Arch.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillared stone,
Rose on a turret octagon. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Her.) A common heraldic bearing, of which there are many varieties. See the Illustration, above. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. The crosslike mark or symbol used instead of a signature by those unable to write. [ 1913 Webster ]

Five Kentish abbesses . . . .subscribed their names and crosses. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. Church lands. [ Ireland ] [ Obs. ] Sir J. Davies. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A line drawn across or through another line. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. Hence: A mixing of breeds or stock, especially in cattle breeding; or the product of such intermixture; a hybrid of any kind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Toning down the ancient Viking into a sort of a cross between Paul Jones and Jeremy Diddler. Lord Dufferin. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Surveying) An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. (Mech.) A pipe-fitting with four branches the axes of which usually form's right angle. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cross and pile, a game with money, at which it is put to chance whether a coin shall fall with that side up which bears the cross, or the other, which is called pile, or reverse; the game called heads or tails. --
Cross bottony or
Cross bottoné. See under Bottony. --
Cross estoilé (Her.). a cross, each of whose arms is pointed like the ray of a star; that is, a star having four long points only. --
Cross of Calvary. See Calvary, 3. --
Southern cross. (Astron.) See under Southern. --
To do a thing on the cross, to act dishonestly; -- opposed to acting on the square. [ Slang ] --
To take up the cross, to bear troubles and afflictions with patience from love to Christ. [ 1913 Webster ]

prep. Athwart; across. [ Archaic or Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

To go cross lots, to go across the fields; to take a short cut. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To lie or be athwart. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be inconsistent. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Men's actions do not always cross with reason. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To interbreed, as races; to mix distinct breeds. [ 1913 Webster ]

If two individuals of distinct races cross, a third is invariably produced different from either. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse; oblique; intersecting. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cross refraction of the second prism. Sir I. Newton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not accordant with what is wished or expected; interrupting; adverse; contrary; thwarting; perverse. “A cross fortune.” Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

The cross and unlucky issue of my design. Glanvill. [ 1913 Webster ]

The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvelously cross to the common experience of mankind. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

We are both love's captives, but with fates so cross,
One must be happy by the other's loss. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Characterized by, or in a state of, peevishness, fretfulness, or ill humor; as, a cross man or woman. [ 1913 Webster ]

He had received a cross answer from his mistress. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Cross action (Law), an action brought by a party who is sued against the person who has sued him, upon the same subject matter, as upon the same contract. Burrill. --
Cross aisle (Arch.), a transept; the lateral divisions of a cruciform church. --
Cross axle. (a) (Mach.) A shaft, windlass, or roller, worked by levers at opposite ends, as in the copperplate printing press. (b) A driving axle, with cranks set at an angle of 90° with each other. --
Cross bedding (Geol.), oblique lamination of horizontal beds. --
Cross bill. See in the Vocabulary. --
Cross bitt. Same as Crosspiece. --
Cross bond, a form of bricklaying, in which the joints of one stretcher course come midway between those of the stretcher courses above and below, a course of headers and stretchers intervening. See Bond, n., 8. --
Cross breed. See in the Vocabulary. --
Cross breeding. See under Breeding. --
Cross buttock, a particular throw in wrestling; hence, an unexpected defeat or repulse. Smollet. --
Cross country, across the country; not by the road. “The cross-country ride.” Cowper. --
Cross fertilization, the fertilization of the female products of one physiological individual by the male products of another, -- as the fertilization of the ovules of one plant by pollen from another. See Fertilization. --
Cross file, a double convex file, used in dressing out the arms or crosses of fine wheels. --
Cross fire (Mil.), lines of fire, from two or more points or places, crossing each other. --
Cross forked. (Her.) See under Forked. --
Cross frog. See under Frog. --
Cross furrow, a furrow or trench cut across other furrows to receive the water running in them and conduct it to the side of the field. --
Cross handle, a handle attached transversely to the axis of a tool, as in the augur. Knight. --
Cross lode (Mining), a vein intersecting the true or principal lode. --
Cross purpose. See Cross-purpose, in the Vocabulary. --
Cross reference, a reference made from one part of a book or register to another part, where the same or an allied subject is treated of. --
Cross sea (Naut.), a chopping sea, in which the waves run in contrary directions. --
Cross stroke, a line or stroke across something, as across the letter t. --
Cross wind, a side wind; an unfavorable wind. --
Cross wires, fine wires made to traverse the field of view in a telescope, and moved by a screw with a graduated head, used for delicate astronomical observations; spider lines. Fixed cross wires are also used in microscopes, etc.

Syn. -- Fretful; peevish. See Fretful. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Crossed p. pr. & vb. n. Crossing. ] 1. To put across or athwart; to cause to intersect; as, to cross the arms. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lay or draw something, as a line, across; as, to cross the letter t. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To pass from one side to the other of; to pass or move over; to traverse; as, to cross a stream. [ 1913 Webster ]

A hunted hare . . . crosses and confounds her former track. I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time. “Your kind letter crossed mine.” J. D. Forbes. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To run counter to; to thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to clash or interfere with. [ 1913 Webster ]

In each thing give him way; cross him in nothing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

An oyster may be crossed in love. Sheridan. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To interfere and cut off; to debar. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To cross me from the golden time I look for. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To make the sign of the cross upon; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun; as, he crossed himself. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To cause to interbreed; -- said of different stocks or races; to mix the breed of. [ 1913 Webster ]

To cross a check (Eng. Banking), to draw two parallel transverse lines across the face of a check, with or without adding between them the words “and company”, with or without the words “not negotiable”, or to draw the transverse lines simply, with or without the words “not negotiable” (the check in any of these cases being crossed generally). Also, to write or print across the face of a check the name of a banker, with or without the words “not negotiable” (the check being then crossed specially). A check crossed generally is payable only when presented through a bank; one crossed specially, only when presented through the bank mentioned. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ] --
To cross one's path, to oppose one's plans. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. With arms crossed. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. A term used when a narrow ribbon of veneer is inserted into the surface of any piece of furniture, wainscoting, etc., so that the grain of it is contrary to the general surface. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A transverse bar or piece, as a bar across a door, or as the iron bar or stock which passes through the shank of an anchor to insure its turning fluke down. Russell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Crossbar shot, a projectile which folds into a sphere for loading, but on leaving the gun expands to a cross with a quarter ball at the end of each arm; -- used in naval actions for cutting the enemy's rigging. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Secured by, or furnished with, crossbars. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Made or patterned in lines crossing each other; as, crossbarred muslin. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Same as Crossbill. [ 1913 Webster ]