in comb. is used in many relations, substantive, adjective, adverbial, and prepositional (rarely verbal), sometimes difficult to separate, and in various senses. In some of these the combination is very loose, the use of the hyphen being almost optional.
This is especially so when cross is capable of being viewed as an adjective, in which construction the hyphen would not be used, e.g., cross road or cross-road, cross reference or cross-reference. As a rule, the use of the hyphen implies specialization of the combination, either usually, or in the particular instance in which it occurs.
A. General uses in combination.
I. From CROSS sb.
1. objective: a. with pr. pples., forming adjs., as cross-adoring, -kissing; b. with vbl. sbs., forming sbs., as cross-bearing; c. with agent-n., as cross-adorer, -keeper; CROSS-BEARER.
a. 1631. Drayton, Wks., IV. 1311 (Jod.). The cross-adoring fowls.
1637. N. Whiting, Albino & Bellama, 16. The cross-adorers he, with crossing, catches.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, II. v. 310. Cross-kissing Christians.
1824. Southey, Bk. of Ch. (1841), 243. Latimer was … Cross-Keeper in the University.
2. instrumental and locative, with pples. and adjs. forming adjs., as cross-crowned, -marked; CROSS-FIXED.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xix. (1848), 206. A winged orb cross-crowned.
3. attrib. a. Of or pertaining to the Cross or a cross, as cross-legend, -shaft, -side, -step, -worship; CROSS-CLOTH 1, -DAYS, -WEEK, etc.; b. Of the shape, appearance or nature of a cross; having a cross-bar or transverse part; as CROSS-BOW, -FISH, -GARNET, -STITCH, etc.; c. Marked or stamped with the figure of a cross, as † cross-back; CROSS-BUN, -DOLLAR, -FOX, etc.
c. 1330. [see CROSS sb. 19], Þe croice side.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., VII. ii. 199. [They] wore continually vpon their backes a red Crosse, whereby the name Crosse-back … was to them attributed.
1827. Clare, Sheph. Cal., Aug., 75. Placed on the circling Cross-steps.
1889. Archæol. Æliana, XIII. 265. The Birtley cross-slab.
II. From CROSS a.
4. a. gen. Having a transverse direction; transverse; going across something; as cross-band, -brace, -gate, -pole, -rod, -strap; CROSS-BAR, -BEAM, -PIECE, -SAIL, etc.; b. spec. Transverse to the direction in which the main or principal thing of the kind lies, and thus often a branch of it, or otherwise subordinate to it, as cross-barrel, -drain, -furrow, -lode, -passage, -timber, -trench, -turnpike, vein; CROSS-COURSE, -PATH, -ROAD, -STREET, -WAY, etc.; c. Crossing or intersecting each other, as cross-hand; CROSS-BONES, -KEYS.
1590. Sir J. Smyth, Disc. Weapons, ***iij. With trenches, cross-trenches, gabions, and diverse other.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 120. As if you should make a Cross-barrel hollow, thorow the Barrel of a Piece.
1757. Da Costa, in Phil. Trans., L. 233. These cross-loads are generally filled with fragments of stone, minerals, and other rubble.
1760. Patrington Haven Act, 13. Pass through the said turnpikes or cross gates.
1787. Wolcott (P. Pindar), Ode Upon Ode, Wks. 1794, I. 401. Great in tattoo … and cross-hand roll.
1823. W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 377. We did not take the cross-turnpike till we came to Whitchurch.
a. 1826. Farey, Steam Eng. (1827), 678. On the upper end of the piston rod … a horizontal cross-rod … is fixed.
1829. Southey, Pilgr. to Compostella, III. Perch’d on a cross-pole hoisted high.
1834. Stephens, in Brit. Husb., I. 474. A drain must be carried along … with outlets to the cross-drains.
1845. Gloss. Gothic Archit., I. 317. A variety of cross-braces above the tie-beams.
1849. Ruskin, Sev. Lamps, ii. § 10. 38. Set as stays and cross-bands.
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1872), II. 409. The cross-straps pinch the little toe of my wife’s foot.
1881. Jowett, Thucyd., I. 20. Strengthening the old ships with cross-timbers.
1884. Mrs. F. Miller, Life Ht. Martineau, 148. She set up a cross-pole fence around her estate.
5. Also said of things in motion or involving motion, as cross-current, -ice, -train; CROSS-POST.
1823. W. Scoresby, Jrnl. Whale-Fishery, 469. Cross-ice, loose ice, affording a dubious and difficult passage to a ship.
1849. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., II. 57. I had to wait some fifteen minutes for the cross-train to Haddington.
¶ With vbl. sbs. and nouns involving action: see 9.
III. From CROSS adv.
6. With verbs, forming compound verbs, meaning to do something a. across, or crosswise, or in a direction or way traversing another, as cross-bond, -carve, -fetter, -pile, -swim, -tie; CROSS-CUT, -PLOUGH, etc.; b. in a way that crosses recognized or ordinary lines of affinity, as CROSS-BREED, -COUPLE, -FERTILIZE; c. in a way that crosses or traverses another action, as CROSS-EXAMINE, -QUESTION, etc.; d. so that two actions mutually cross each other, the one being the counterpart of the other, or done in return or reciprocation for the other, as cross-disguise, -invite.
1590. Sylvester, Du Bartas Yvry Wks. (Grosart), II. 249. And fiery-fierce and stout, A hundred wayes cross-carves the Field about. Ibid. (a. 1618), Mottoes, 329. The world and Death one day them cross-disguised To cosen Man.
1613. T. Milles, trans. Mexia’s, etc., Treas. Anc. & Mod. T., I. 75/1. Although the Seas were very violent and Tempestuous, yet hee would Crosse-swim them, without any feare or perill.
1645. J. Bond, Occasus Occid., 35. Hee doth fetter, and … crosse-fetter him.
a. 1734. North, Lives, II. 62. His lordship chose to be so far rude as not to cross invite, rather than bear the like consequences of such another intercourse.
1761. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. viii. 25. He tied and cross-tied them all fast together.
1862. Smiles, Engineers, II. 429. These [stones] were to be carefully set by hand, with the broadest ends downwards, all crossbonded or jointed.
1878. Lumberman’s Gaz., 25 Dec., 446. The amount of lumber now cross-piled on the several mill docks.
7. With pr. pples., or adjs. of this form, forming adjs., as cross-flowing, -jingling, -pulling, -running.
1634. Milton, Comus, 832. The flood That stayed her flight with his cross-flowing course. Ibid. (1641), Reform., I. (1851), 31. The fantastick, and declamatory flashes; the crosse-jingling periods which cannot but disturb, and come thwart a setl’d devotion.
1835. Marryat, Pirate, iv. This gale and cross-running sea are rather too much for boats.
1854–6. Patmore, Angel in Ho., I. I. x. Cross-pulling vices, tied Like Samson’s foxes, by the tails.
8. With pa. pples., or adjs. so formed, forming adjs., as cross-fissured, -folded, -gagged, -laced, -latticed, -striped; CROSS-BRED, -GARTERED, etc.
(Often approaching or passing into 11.)
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 23 b. The Harrowe, is an instrument crosse lettused, to breake the Cloddes.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (1871), 49. They would … stand cross-gagged, with knives in their mouths.
1624. T. Scott, Vox Dei, 41. To sitt with our armes crosse-folded.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch., Hen. V., clxxvi. Clad … in cross-stript Motley.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., I. iv. 137. Scarlet stockings, cross-laced with gold braid up to the knee.
1869. Phillips, Vesuvius, vii. 198. It was originally more cross-fissured than the other.
9. With vbl. sbs. and nouns involving action, in the various senses found with the vb. (see 6), as cross-peal, -planking, -ventilation; -appeal, -association, -belief, -claim; -blow, -raiding; CROSS-ENTRY, etc.
Here cross- becomes practically equivalent to an adjective, though originating, as in 6, 7, 8, in the adverb.
1684. R. H., Sch. Recreat., 147. There are two kinds of Changes, viz. Plain Changes, and Cross-peals;… the second is called Cross, so are its Methods cross and intricate.
1749. Lavington, Enthusiasm (1754), I. 151. All the ridiculous Ceremonies of Puff, Cross-Puff, Impuff, and Expuff.
1819. Edin. Rev., XXXII. 124. That cross-play of selfishness and vanity.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 128. A thorough cross-ventilation by opposite windows.
1884. Law Reports 9 App. Cases 571. Appeal and cross-appeal from a judgment of the Supreme Court.
1885. H. T. Atkinson, in Law Rep. 14 Q. Bench Div. 923. Cross-claims for damages could only be set up in different actions.
1890. J. Corbett, Sir F. Drake, ix. 124. It was no mere cross-raiding on which he was bent.
1892. J. C. Blomfield, Hist. Heyford, 4. A couple of trees were laid down, and a cross-planking fixed upon them.
IV. From CROSS prep.
10. With object sbs., forming adjs., with sense a. Crossing, across, as cross-channel (see B), -river, town; CROSS-COUNTRY; b. Adverse to, as † cross-bliss; CROSS-COURSE a.
1589. Warner, Alb. Eng., V. xxvii. 135. This crosse-blisse world of ours.
1886. Fortn. Rev., 1 Feb., 221. With cross-town tramcars running from side to side.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 15 Feb., 12/1. The Greenwich Ferry Company…. Cross-river communication for vehicular traffic.
V. 11. Parasynthetic derivatives, as a. cross-shaped, having the shape of a cross; CROSS-HEADED, -HILTED; b. cross-armed, -fingered, having the arms, etc., crossed; CROSS-HANDED, -LEGGED, etc.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 304. With hand in hand, cross-fingered one between another.
1621. Lady M. Wroth, Urania, 485. Then I … walked cross armd, sighed, cast vp mine eyes.
1670. Moral State Eng., 83. Her cross-arm’d Lovers.
1787. Tollet, in Annot. K. Hen. IV., I., 152 (Jod.). The cross-shaped flower on the head of this figure.
1881. Daily News, 8 Nov., 5/7. In the cross-armed and somewhat downcast attitude which he has assumed throughout the trial.
B. Special combinations (with quots. in alphabetical order): cross-action (Law), an action brought by the defendant against the plaintiff or a co-defendant in the same action: cf. CROSS-BILL; cross-and-jostle, applied to a race in which the riders cross each other’s paths and jostle each other, getting to the winning-post as they like, by fair riding or foul; also fig.; † cross-arrow, an arrow shot from a cross-bow; cross-axle (see quot.); cross-banded (Carpentry), see quot.; cross-bedding (Geol.), apparent lines of stratification crossing the real ones, false bedding; † cross-bell, the bell rung at the Elevation of the Host; cross-belt, orig. a belt worn over both shoulders, and crossing in front of the breast; also, in later use, a single belt passing obliquely across the breast; hence cross-belted a.; cross-birth, a birth in which the child is presented in a position transverse to the uterus; cross-bit = CROSS-PIECE; † cross-blow, a counter-blow; also a blow indirectly dealt; cross-catalogue v., to catalogue under a heading or division that crosses another; to cross-index; cross-channel a., passing or situated across the (English or other) channel; cross-check (see quot.); cross-cropping (see quot.); † cross-dagger, an obsolete coin; cross-dog (see DOG); cross-fam v. slang (see quot.); cross-file (see quot.); cross-fishing, fishing with a line with many hooks attached extending across a stream; cf. CROSS-LINE 2; cross-frog, the arrangement where one line of rails crosses another, each of the rails being notched to admit the flanges of wheels on the crossing rail; † cross-grinded a., cross-vaulted, having two arches or vaults intersecting each other; cross-guard, a sword-guard consisting of a short transverse bar; † cross-hack v., to hack or cut with crossing lines; hence † cross-hacking; cross-hap, adverse fortune or occurrence; cross-house, a house at or by a cross; a house standing crosswise to others; also fig.; cross-index v., to index under another heading as a cross-reference; † cross-letter, a letter crossing the main routes, and carried by the cross-post; cross-lift v. (see quot.); † cross-like a., like or resembling a cross; cross-lock a., applied to an invention by which a carriage, etc., is enabled to ‘lock’ or turn on the main-pin in a particular way; cross-lode (see 4); cross-loop, a loop-hole in a fort in the form of a cross so as to give free range horizontally and vertically to an archer, etc.; cross-mint, the species Mentha crispa; cross-mouth a., having a transverse mouth; † cross-naming, metonymy; cross-oylet = cross-loop; † cross-penny, a (silver) penny bearing a cross (cf. CROSS sb. 19); a kreutzer; † cross-providence, an adverse dispensation or dealing of providence; cross-quarters (Arch.), an ornament of tracery in the form of a cruciform flower; cross-sea (see CROSS a. 1); cross-section, the cutting of anything across; a section made by a plane cutting anything transversely; cross-shoot, -shooting, -shot, a shooting or shot at anything moving across the field of sight; cross-sleeper a., (a railway track) in which the sleepers are transverse to the rails; cross-spider, the common British garden spider Epeira diadema, so called from the cross-like mark on its anterior surface; cross-talk (Telephone), see quot.; cross-tig, a variety of the game ‘tig’ in which another player running across between pursuer and pursued is pursued in his turn; cross-tining (dial.), cross-harrowing: see CROSS v. 7 b; cross-valve, a valve placed where a pipe has two cross-branches; cross-vine, a climber of the southern U.S., in which a section of the stem shows a cross-like appearance; cross-voting, voting not according to party lines, in which some of the votes of each party are given on the other side; cross-ward, a cross-shaped ward of a lock; cross-webbing, webbing drawn over the saddle-tree to strengthen the seat of a saddle; cross-winding, a twisting of the surface of masonry, or the like; cross-wire, a wire that crosses; spec. = cross-hair; cross-wood, a West Indian shrub Jacquinia ruscifolia; † cross-work, transverse work; adverse action; † work with crosses; † cross-wounded ppl. a., pierced through with a wound; cross-yard, a pole or spar fastened crosswise.
1868. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., I. 393. He had begun a *cross action … against the clergyman.
1841. Gen. Thompson, Exerc. (1842), VI. 52. And because there would be no use in two thousand men agreeing to die upon half the food that can keep soul and body together, they either toss up for it or play a *cross-and-jostle match.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., II. i. I was run twice through the body, and shot i’ th’ head with a *cross arrow.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Cross-axle, 1. a shaft, windlass, or roller worked by opposite levers; as the copper-plate printing-press, etc.; 2. (Railroad Engineering) a driving-axle with cranks set at an angle of 90° with each other.
1875. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss. s.v., Handrailing … is said to be *cross-banded when a veneer is laid upon its upper side, with the grain of the wood crossing that of the rail, and the extension of the veneer in the direction of its fibres is less than the breadth of the rail.
c. 1450. Lydg., Mer. Missæ, 69. Whan he ryngythe the *crosbelle.
1797. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp., II. 416. It is recommended that all [the seamen] should have canvas *cross-belts.
1858. W. Ellis, Visits Madagascar, xiii. 372. The men wore the white cloth … round their loins, with cross-belts, and cartouche boxes over their naked shoulders.
1590. Nashe, Pasquil’s Apol., I. D iij. Theyr *crosse-blowe of Fellowe labourers will not saue theyr ribbes, if they be no better Fencers.
1607. Hieron, Wks., I. 449. A counter-buffe, or crosse-blow, to the plots … of carnall and worldly-wise men.
1890. G. Saintsbury, Ess., 17. [He] catalogues books as folio, quarto, octavo, and so forth, and then *cross-catalogues them as law, physic, divinity and the rest.
1891. Athenæum, 18 July, 94/2. Librarians should therefore cross-catalogue … the work under these headings.
1891. Scot. Leader, 12 Dec., 4. Heavy weather was experienced by the *cross-channel steamers.
1892. Daily News, 8 Oct., 6/4. Belfast…. White linens for home and cross-Channel markets are looking up.
1823. Crabbe, Technological Dict., *Cross-chocks (Mar.) … pieces of timber fayed across the dead-wood in midships, to make good the deficiency of the lower heels of the futtock.
1847. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., VIII. I. 34. The miserable system of *cross-cropping, or taking two or more white straw crops in succession.
1701. S. Jeake, Body Arith., 142. *Cross Daggers of Scotland, New Value 11s. 8d.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, I. 283. In 1597, the workmen erected another pier, using much timber in *cross-dogs, bars, and braces.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., To *cross-fam a person, is to pick his pocket, by crossing your arms in a particular position.
1874. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Cross-file, a file used in dressing out the arms or crosses of fine wheels. It has two convex faces of different curvatures.
1867. B. Osborne, in Morn. Star, 9 April. There is a thing called *cross-fishing, where one line is used with different coloured baits, and where both sides of the stream are swept.
1715. Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), I. 62. The Portico with a *cross-grinded Arch.
1874. Boutell, Arms & Arm., ix. 173. The simplest variety of hilt … has … the pommel … the barrel … and the *cross-guard.
1608. Plat, Garden of Eden (1653), 158. *Crossehack your cherry trees … in the new moon next after Christmas. Ibid., 159. All the *cross-hackings here mentioned.
1881. Duffield, Don Quix., I. 142. You need not fear any *cross-hap.
a. 1625. Boys, Wks. (1629), 165. Many are so blinded with the sun-shine of prosperity, that they see … no such schoole-house as the *crosse-house.
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 58. At either end of the wide part of this street there is a cross-house.
1892. Law Times, XCII. 196/1. ‘Mayor’s Court’ should be *cross-indexed as ‘Lord Mayor’s Court.’
1787. Hist. Eur., in Ann. Reg., 134. The *cross letter postage, which had been for many years let out to Mr. Allen.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (ed. 9), 110. To *cross lift a gun, or carriage is to move it in a direction nearly at right angles to its axis.
1649. J. Ellistone, trans. Behmen’s Epist. (1886), v. § 29. It maketh a *cross-like birth.
1685. H. More, Paralip. Prophet., 290. Otherwise the Perimeter of the House had been Cruciform or Cross-like.
1843. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IV. II. 492. Spring-waggon on the equirotal *cross-lock principle.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. ccxv. § 2. 552. Mentha cruciata, *Crosse Mint, or curled Mint.
1589. Puttenham, Eng. Poesie, III. (Arb.), 189. Single words haue their sence and vnderstanding altered and figured many wayes, to wit, by transport, abuse, *crosse-naming … change of name.
1857. Turner, Dom. Archit., III. II. vii. 341. In each side of the central buttress is a slit, and above it a *cross-oylet.
1837. Keightley, Secr. Soc. Middle Ages, 367. He then threw a *cross-penny (Kreutzer?) to the court and went his way, no one being permitted to let or hinder him.
1720. Welton, Suffer. Son of God, II. xiv. 377. Looking upon Afflictions and *Cross-Providence with Esteem.
1884. Bower & Scott, De Bary’s Phaner., 323. The characteristic habit of most Monocotyledonous bundles, which is especially evident in *cross-section.
1884. trans. Lotze’s Logic, 265. It is only necessary that the mass be the same at any cross-section of this material line.
1766. T. Page, Art of Shooting, 35. If you take aim a foot before a *cross shoot at forty yards. Ibid., 34. A hint concerning *cross-shooting.
1789. Ess. Shooting (1791), 215. To avoid missing a *cross shot, whether it be flying or running.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 14 May, 1/2. We have what we call upon certain sections the *cross-sleeper road.
1883. J. G. Wood, in Gd. Words, Dec., 761/1. A Diadem or *Cross Spider comes running over her web.
1891. Times, 12 Jan., 13/2. To suppress the sputtering noises, or *‘cross-talk,’ induced in the line by currents passing through some neighbouring telegraph or telephone line.
1876. Grant, Burgh Sch. Scotl., II. v. 180. Games still less known are *‘cross-tig,’ and ‘Scotch and English Jackson,’ which are played at Arbroath high school.
1884. Standard, 9 April, 3/8. The *cross voting was so exceptionally slight, that only one Liberal, Mr. Goschen, voted with the Conservatives.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 29. You may easily file your *Cross, or Hook-wards, wider or deeper.
1816. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, I. 27. Those twistings of the surface which are technically termed *cross-windings.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 341. A thin board, planed true, to point out cross-windings and other inequalities of surface.
1882. J. Smith, Economic Plants, 143. It derives its name of *Crosswood from … its branches being produced in whorls of four, thus forming a cross.
1434. E. E. Wills (1882), 101. A good bordcloth with *crosse werk.
1627. E. F., Hist. Edw. II. (1680), 12. There might be some cross-work might blast his project.
1582. T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, lxi. My Hart *croswounded with desire.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 193. They erect a Tree, with a *crosse-yard fastned to it.
