Cross
CROSS, sb., v., adj. and adv. Var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. and
Eng. In forms crass Oxf.1 Brks.1; croise Slk. (Jam.)
[kros, kras, krās.] I. 1. sb. In phr. (1) Cross and hands,
a finger-post; (2) to beg like a cripple at a cross, to entreat
earnestly and persistently; (3) his way is a long one, but
there's a staff and cross at the end of it, said of a spendthrift
or prodigal; (4) to make or put a cross on, to affirm with
the signature, to receipt.
(1) se.Wor.1 (2) Wm. Ah beg'd like a cripple at a cross, but it
was neea use (B.K.). n.Yks.2 Still common. m.Yks.1 s.Chs.1
A common phr. The expression refers to the ancient custom of
mendicants to sit and beg upon the steps of the crosses in public
places. (3) m.Yks.1 (4) n.Yks.2 ‘I'll mak my cross on't,’ affirm it
with my signature. s.Wil. Shall I put a cross on the bill, ma'am
(G.E.D.)
2. Money, cash, also in phr. cross nor coin.
Qco. The devil a cross of wages I got from the master this many
a day, Barrington Sketches (1830) III. xxv. n.Yks.2 I'm blest wi'
nowther cross nor coin. w.Yks.1 I've neither cross nor coin.
[He hath never a cross to bless himself withal, Ray Prov. (1678)
237.]
3. phr. cross and pile, (1) coin, money, lit. the obverse or
reverse side of a coin; (2) the game of ‘heads or tails.’
(1) Sc. If he was not cleaned out of cross and pile, I never saw
a ruined man in my life, Scott Nigel (1822) xiv. (2) w.Yks.2
Lan. Cross and pile is the old name of what is now called ‘tossing,’
or ‘heads and tails.’... ‘Three piles with six crosses for pennies’;
... this at least shows that ‘cross and pile’ were terms for the
opposite sides of coins, Harland & Wilkinson Leg. (1873) 139.
Der.1 Obs.
4. The dark marks across the shoulders of a donkey.
N.I.1 ‘He would steal the cross off an ass’: said of an avaricious
person. w.Yks. (J.W.) Shr. Hairs taken from the cross on a
donkey's back are used to cure whooping cough, Burne Flk-Lore
(1883) 168. Oxf.1 Some say, originally caused by Christ making a
cross on the ass on which he sat; and others, that they were made
by the legs of Christ as he rode into Jerusalem.
5. pl. Two nicks or marks made on the surface of the
earth by a miner when he takes the ground to dig for
lead ore. Also in phr. crosses and holes.
Der. They may make crosses, holes, and set their stowes,
Manlove Lead Mines (1653) l. 5; When a person discovers a vein
and he has no means to possess it for want of ‘stowces,’ he marks
the ground with ‘crosses and holes,’ by which means he possesses
it until he can procure ‘stowces,’ Mawe Mineralogy (1802).
6. v. In phr. (1) to cross the buckle or over the buckle, to
cross the arms in playing at skipping, to cross the legs in
making a peculiar and difficult step in dancing; (2) cross the
mind, to have an injurious effect on the mind; (3) cross out
the rainbow, see below; (4) cross out the witch, see below.
(1) N.Cy.1 Nhb. Can ye jump up an shuffle And cross owre the
buckle When ye dance? Tyneside Sngstr. (1889) 41; Nhb.1 Cum.
Danc'd ‘Cross the buckle’ and ‘leather te patch,’ Anderson
Ballads (1808) 66. (2) Dev. Calling her ould witch an' haggaging
as they did ─... had crossed her mind a bit; so that she'd grown
to an awsome ould spit-fire at learst, Madox-Brown Yeth-hounds
(1876) 251. (3) Nhb., Dur. Two straws were placed on the ground
so as to form a cross, and were then struck at the point of intersection
three (?) times with a stone. If one of the straws was
broken by the blow, the rainbow was expected to break immediately
after, N. & Q. (1890) 7th S. x. 471. Yks. Boys take two pieces
of stick and lay them on the ground, placing a small stone at the
end of each stick. The charm is supposed to cause the rainbow
to disappear, N. & Q. w.Yks. The belief was prevalent amongst the
youngsters that it was possible to ‘cross out’ the rainbow. Though
we often made the cross on the ground, yet we believed it was as
effectual if we crossed the fore-fingers of each hand, N. & Q. (4) w.Yks.2
When ale is brewed, the farmer's wife makes a cross upon the
yeast which floats on the top of the wort in the brewing vat. She
also throws a few hot cinders into the vat. The process is called
‘crossing the old witch out,’ Introd. 22.
7. To brand with a mark of the cross. Slk. (Jam.)
8. To toll the death-bell. w.Yks. (R.H.H.)
9. Of the hand of a clock, &c.: to approach, draw near
a certain point.
Per. The shadow's crossing 11. The hand's crossing the wee
short hour (G.W.). Ayr. Juist as it was crossin' eleven, Service
Dr. Duguid (1887) 224.
10. adj. and adv. Inconvenient; contrary, wrong, untoward.
Lnk. Providence frowned very much upon him, and everything
went cross, Wodrow Ch. Hist. (1720) II. 29, ed. 1828.
Cum. An, than, theer cross wedder to feight wi', Richardson
Talk (1876) 2nd S. 151.
Hence (1) Crossful, adj. cross-tempered; (2) Crossing,
adj. vexatious, grievous, untoward.
(1) Per. A bad and crossful wife, Nicoll Poems (1766) 40.
(2) w.Som.1 Tuur·ubl kraa·seen, aa·dr ún·eebau·dee-d u-tèok·t jis
truub·l wai un [very grievous, after one had taken such trouble
with him].
II. In comb. with sb., v. and adj. (1) Cross-axe, an axe
with two broad and sharp ends, one cutting breadth-wise,
the other length-wise; (2) Cross-band, a twist in yarn from left
to right and right to left; (3) Cross-bar, (a) the cross-piece of
iron to which the prongs of a potato-fork or ‘yelve’ are
fixed; (b) pl. the upright bars of a gate, which cross the
ledges or horizontal bars; (4) Cross-bated, of the fibres of
wood: cross-grained, twisted, crooked; (5) Cross-brath'd,
braided across; (6) Cross-bridge, the frame at the back of a
wagon into which the side pieces are tenanted, answering
to the ‘fore-buck’; (7) Cross-buttock, a term in wrestling, see
below; also used vbl.; (8) Cross-chamer prentice, an apprentice
bound by the governors of the Queen Elizabeth
Grammar School; see below; (9) Cross-chap, a thief; (10)
Cross-cloth, (a) a square of linen folded cross-wise, wrapped
round the head or bosom, or laid on a child's head to
protect the ‘opening’; (b) a hanging or veil by which the
rood and other images in the rood-loft were hid during
Lent; a banner attached to a processional cross; (11)
Cross-corners, diagonally; (12) Cross-course, a metalliferous vein
having a direction across that of the metalliferous lodes;
(13) Cross-crop, (a) a crop contrary to the four-course system
of husbandry; (b) to grow crops out of due rotation; (14)
Cross-cut, (a) an excavation in a mine driven at an angle to the
direction of the cleavage or cleat; (b) to cut the stem of
a tree into lengths with a ‘cross-cut’ saw; (c) to cut out
turnips with a hoe, so as to leave them in tufts ready for
a final thinning to single plants; (d) to plough across, at
right angles to the former ploughing; (15) Cross-cut-saw, a saw
used for cutting timber across; (16) Cross day, Dec. 28th,
Innocents' Day; also Friday gen.; (17) Cross days, the days
of procession to the parish boundaries; (18) Cross-fish, (19) Cross-fit,
the star-fish, Stella marina; (20) Cross-flower, (a) the wild
hyacinth, Scilla nutans; (b) the early purple orchis,
Orchis mascula; (21) Cross-gang, (22) Cross-gate, a cross-road, field-track,
cross-way; (23) Cross-gates, the branchings of a horse-gate
in a coal-mine: (24) Cross-gossan, a vein in a mine of
a metallic nature; (25) Cross-grain, to irritate, annoy; (26)
Cross-hand dance, a country dance; (27) Cross-hands post, a fingerpost;
(28) Cross-headed, used of ploughs, which have a piece
of wood placed across the end of the beam, to regulate
the oblique position of the capstan; (29) Cross-hill, the open
space or ‘green’ in the centre of a village; (30) Cross-hopple,
(a) to thwart, contradict, interrupt in conversation; to
annoy, put out; (b) to ask awkward questions; to cross-question;
(31) Cross-hoppled, ill-tempered; (32) Cross-maund, a
basket with the handle across it; (33) Cross Monday, the
Monday after the festival of the Invention of the Cross,
May 14th, old style; (34) Cross-morganed, peevish, ill-natured;
(35) Cross-nook, to check, restrain, get out of the way; to go
into the corners of a room, to go aside; (36) Cross-noted, of
cows: arranged that some shall calve in spring or summer,
others in autumn or winter; (37) Cross-oaks, oak trees
growing where two roads cross each other; (38) Cross-over,
(a) a comforter or small shawl, the ends of which can be
tied round the waist at the back, crossing over the breast
in front; (b) a special kind of heavy cotton goods, with
blue and white stripes running across; (39) Cross-patch, (40)
Cross-piece, an ill-tempered, cross child or person; in gen.
colloq. use; (41) Cross-plough, see Cross-cut (d); (42) Cross-quart, cross-corner;
(43) Cross-rake, a vein of ore which bisects in its
course another vein in the working; (44) Cross-rouping, a sale
by auction at the public cross; (45) Cross-row, the alphabet;
(46) Cross-sighted, squinting; (47) Cross-speir, to cross-examine,
question; (48) Cross-teean, taken with a fit of contradiction;
(49) Cross-ticky, (50) Cross-touch, a variety of the game of ‘last
touch’; see below; (51) Cross-trucking, an interchange of
commodities; (52) Cross-vein, a cleft or fissure in a mine
which crosses another at an angle; (53) Cross-wamping, contradicting,
wrangling; (54) Cross-waund, ill-tempered, cross;
(55) Cross-ways, a place where four roads meet; (56) Cross week,
Rogation Week; (57) Cross-wind, (a) to warp, twist; (b) to
cross-examine, question; (58) Cross-wort, the may-wort,
Galium Cruciata; (59) Cross-woun or Cross-wounded, uneven.
(1) Dor. (C.V.G.) Som. Called also Grub-axe and Twibill,
W. & J. Gl. (1873). (2) w.Yks. (J.M.) (3, a) Chs.1 Randle
Holme describes the parts of a Yelve as ‘The Barr, or Cross Bar,’
Acad. Armory, bk. iii. viii. 337. (b) n.Lin.1 (4) w.Yks.1 (5)
Frf. A bulgy knap O' thread, cross-brath'd, Anderson Piper of Peebles (1794)
6. (6) Nhp.1 (7) Cum. He'd given the little waistrel the cross-buttock,
and felled him on his head, Caine Shad. Crime (1885) 59.
Wm. It consists in getting one's opponent over one's buttock and
bringing him down by that leverage, as it were. He cross-buttocked
him an' gat him doon wi an' awful whiddur (B.K.).
w.Yks. I had him clean cross-buttocked, Snowden Web Weaver
(1896) viii. [We stripped in a moment, and began a furious
contest.... Many cross-buttocks did I sustain, Smollett R. Random
(1748) xxvii.] (8) w.Yks. So called because the meetings used to
be held in the chamber over the old market cross, Banks Wkfld.
Wds. (1865). (9) Lon. Mayhew Lond. Labour (1851) I. 24.
(10, a) n.Yks. One croscloth value 4d., Quarter Sessions Record
(Apr. 26, 1620) in N. R. Rec. Soc. (1884) II. 233. n.Lin.1 Obs.
Shr.1 The cross-cloth, together with the ‘skull-cap’ and ‘plucker-down,’
formed the head-gear of an infant a century ago. The skullcap
was a tight-fitting cap of linen which went over the cross-cloth;
to this was attached the plucker-down ─ an invention designed to
keep the child from throwing its head back. It consisted of two
linen bands, which, being secured to the cap at one end, were at
the other fastened to the shoulders of the child's dress, thus
keeping the head in position. (b) n.Lin.1 Obs. (11) n.Yks. He
went cross-cooaners o' t'field (I.W.). (12) Cor. There are
instances of a lode being heaved fifty, and even more, fathoms, by
a cross-course, Burrow 'Mongst Mines, 29. (13, a) Nhb. (M.H.D.)
(b) Not. The covenants are the usual ones, as to repairs, not cross-cropping,
&c., Marshall Review (1814) IV. 159. n.Lin.1 sw.Lin.1
When they began to cross-crop the land, they never did any
more good. Oxf.1 (14, a) Nhb.1 Nhb., Dur. Greenwell Coal
Tr. Gl. (1849). Cor.3 For the purposes of discovering lodes, or
for affording facilities for working a mine. (b, c) Chs.1 (d)
n.Lin.1 Ploughing land across, so as to cut the soil into square
blocks. sw.Lin.1 They're cross-cutting fallows. They don't fall
to cross-cut clay. (15) n.Yks. Let's cut theease trees wĭ t'cross-cut-saw
(I.W.). Chs.1, n.Lin.1 [Gl. Lab. (1894).] (16) Shr.
One day among the Twelve [the Christmas (q.v.)] is a day of evil
omen, namely Innocents' Day, the 28th Dec., otherwise called
‘Cross day.’ The ancient sages of Pulverbatch applied this name
not only to Innocents' Day itself, but throughout the year to the
day of the week on which it had last fallen, which was counted
an unlucky day for the beginning of any work or other undertaking.
‘It must have been begun on Cross Day,’ was a proverbial
saying applied to any unfortunate enterprise, Burne Flk-Lore
(1883) 408; The inauspicious character of Friday is due to the
Crucifixion having taken place on that day ─ I am told that it is
even called ‘Cross Day’ about Church Stretton, BURNE Flk-Lore 260; Shr.1
(17) e.Yks. The onely time for puttinge of fatte weathers is aboute
Easter and Crosse days, Best Rur. Econ. (1641) 9. (18) Sh.I.
Edmonston Zetland (1809) II. 320 (Jam.). Sh.&Ork.1 (19)
Bnff.1 (20) Dev. (B. & H.) (21, 22) n.Yks.1 n.Yks.2, m.Yks.1 (23)
w.Yks. (J.P.) (24) Cor.2 Either a vein of a metallic nature, a
cross-gossan, or else a soft earth, clay, or flookan like a vein.
(25) Glo. I'm good enough tempered if nobody don't cross-grain
me (S.S.B.). (26) n.Dev. The men and maidens were all forming
up for a cross-hand dance, Chanter Witch (1896) vii. (27) War.,
Glo. I will meet you at the cross-hands post (E.S.). (28) Bdf.
Batchelor Agric. (1813) 162. (29) Nhp.2 (30, a) Lin. It doesn't
do to crossopple her (C.G.B.). sw.Lin.1 Don't cross-hopple her
now she's ill. You can do nowt by cross-hoppling him. (b) Cmb.1
I'm not a-going to be cross-hoppled in this way. (31) Nhp.1
Confined to the n. part of the county Nhp.. (32) Ess. Go fetch the
cross-maund, Trans. Arch. Soc. (1863) II. 182. (33) Nhp.2 (34)
w.Yks.1 (35) Abd. Used as a sort of imprecation (Jam.); Cross-nook
ye, bairns, an' let him down afore the fire, Beattie Parings
(1801) 3, ed. 1873. (36) Chs.1 When it is so arranged that some
cows in a stock shall calve so as to ensure a supply of milk all the
year round, they are said to be cross-noted. s.Chs.1 (37) Hrt.
About a mile from Berkhampstead, on a spot where two roads
cross each other, are a few oak trees called ‘cross-oaks.’ Here
aguish patients used to resort, and peg a lock of their hair into
one of these oaks, then, by a sudden wrench, transfer the lock
from their heads to the tree, and return home with the full conviction
that the ague had departed with the severed lock. Persons
now living affirm they have often seen hair thus left pegged into
the oak, for one of these trees only was endowed with the healing
power, N. & Q. (1852) 1st S. vi. 5. (38, a) w.Yks. It's cold
again, don't go out without your cross-over on (H.L.). Dor.
Baby he do look vine i' the crossover as you've a-knitted vor'n,
Hare Vill. Street (1895) 231. Dev.3 (b) Chs.1 Formerly woven
chiefly about Mabberley and Wilmslow. (39) Sc. The keeper's a
cross patch, Scott Midlothian (1818) xxix. e.Yks.1 Never applied
to men. w.Yks.1 w.Yks.2 w.Yks.5 Lan.1 Eh, what a cross-patch hoo is! It's a
wonder thae can live wi' her. Der. What's th' owd crosspatch
been slanging about? Ward David Grieve (1892) I. iii; Der.2,
nw.Der.1, Not.1, n.Lin.1, Lei.1 Nhp.1 Cross-patch, Draw the
latch, Sit by the fire and spin. War. (J.R.W.), War.3, Brks.1,
e.An.1, Nrf. (E.M.), Sus.2 e.Sus. Holloway. Hmp.1 Wil. Slow
Gl. (1892). Som. Sweetman Wincanton Gl. (1885). (40) e.Lan.1
(41) Lin. At Belesley they have a practice which is to baulk their
turnip land... that is, to lap a furrow or unstirred land, then
harrow down, and cross-plough it clean, Marshall Review (1811)
III. 151. (42) n.Lin.1 (43) Der. Manlove Lead Mines (1653)
- (44) Lth. At ilka puir bodies cross-roupin'... You're sure
to see Tam an' his drum, Ballantine Poems (1856) 134; Sales by
auction at the Cross of a Burgh are ordered by the sheriff, gen.
for rent or other debts unpaid (A.W.). (45) Ess. (S.P.H.) (46)
Cor. The poor cheeld worked his eyes round and round so quick,
... that he grew up cross-sighted from that night forr'ard, ‘Q.’
Troy Town Revisited in Eng. Illus. Mag. (1894). (47) Frf. He was
speired at and cross-speired at till a' thing was kent aboot him,
Willock Rosetty Ends (1886) 41, ed. 1889. (48) n.Yks.2, e.Yks.1
(49) s.Not. The player who is ‘it’ does not pursue the others
indiscriminately but is confined to the pursuit of one; and when
a boy succeeds in running across between pursued and pursuer,
the latter is obliged to turn and follow that boy (J.P.K.). (50)
nw.Dev.1 (51) n.Yks.2 (52) w.Yks.1 Der. Another miner for a
cross-vein sets, Manlove Lead Mines (1653) l. 41. (53) Nhp.1,
War.3 (54) Shr.1 Yo'n never stop yore 'ear out ŏŏth 'er, 'er's
sich a cross-waund piece. (55) Sus.1 (56) [The Dutch call it
Cross week and so it is called in some parts of England,
because of old, when the priests went in procession this week,
the Cross was carried before them, Brand Pop. Antiq. (ed. 1813)
I. 172.] (57, a) Chs.1 Nhp.1 Applied to boards, when so warped
as not to unite closely. Shr.2 This glass crosswinds soa that I
conna mak a good job on it. (b) s.Chs.1 Dhi mey·dhŭrd im ŭn
kroswuw·nd ŭn baan·tŭrd im ŭ)dhaat·)n til ey)d see· aan·ithin ŭz
dhi waan·tid im [They meithered him an' crosswound an' bantered
him a-that-n till hey'd see (say) annythin' as they wanted him].
Shr.1 'E thought to get the saicrit out; 'e questioned an' cross-waund
me all manner o' ways, but 'e missed it. (58) n.Yks.
(B. & H.) (59) Shr.2
[I. 2. I should bear no cross, if I did bear you, for I think
you have no money in your purse, SHAKS. As You, II. iv.
- (44) Lth. At ilka puir bodies cross-roupin'... You're sure
- Fr. pile, the pile or under-iron of the stamp, wherein
money is stamped; and the pile-side of a piece of
money, the opposite whereof is a cross (whence, Ie n'ay
croix ny pile) (COTGR.). II. (45) Abece, an A.B.C. the
cross-row, an alphabet, COTGR. See Chris(t-cross, 3 (2).]
---
CROSS, prep. Nhb. Cum. Nhp. Also in form crass
Nhp.1 [kros, kras.] Across, aphetic form of across (q.v.).
Nhb.1 ‘Folk could so friendly shake hands ‘cross the street,’
Gilchrist Improvements (1835). Cum. Laid cross two barrels,
Dickinson Lamplugh (1856) 5. w.Yks. (J.W.) Nhp.1 He's gone
crass the road.
---
CROSS, sb. Var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. and Eng.
- Fr. pile, the pile or under-iron of the stamp, wherein
- In comb. (1) Cross-mark, a person scarred by burning;
(2) Cross-stick war, cudgelling; (3) Cross-sticks, a variety of the
game of rounders; (4) Cross-tig, (5) Cross-touch, a variety of the
of ‘tig.’
(1) Sh.I. Kitty Green, whose son was a ‘cross-mark,’ he having
been in early youth burned about the neck and chin, Sh. News
(Feb. 12, 1898). (2) Lnk. Unfauld thysel! frae bush or scaur
Stap oot, an' gie me cross-stick war, Murdoch Doric Lyre (1873) - (3) Cum.4 (4) Ir. Gomme Games (1894) I. 83. (5) Lon. GOMME Games
- Phr. to stand at the cross, to offer oneself at the hirings
as a farm-servant. Lakel. (B.K.) 3. A pile of stones
on a hill-top.
Edb. These piles of stones are often termed, Cairn, Pike,
Currough, Cross, &c., Pennecuik Wks. (1715) ed. 1815.