Obs. [CROSS- 3, 4.]
1. Eccl. A cloth or hanging before the rood.
1541. Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading, 61. For emendyng of the Crosse clothe iiijd.
1550. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1888), 134. Item 1 cros clothe of sylke and another of Pewke.
1566. in Peacock, Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 32. Item one crose clothe—made awaie.
2. A linen cloth worn across the forehead.
1580. North, Plutarch (1676), 41. The Nurses also of Sparta use … to bring up their Children, without swadling … or having on their heads Cross-clothes.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, D iv b. Ile make him pull his powting crosscloath ouer his beetle browes.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. IV. i. 168. Many weare such crosse-clothes or forehead clothes as our women use when they are sicke.
1699. F. Bugg, Quakerism Exposed, 20. Two Neckcloths, and four double Cross-cloths for a Woman.
