Cross \Cross\ (kr[o^]s), a.
1. Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse;
oblique; intersecting.
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The cross refraction of the second prism. --Sir I.
Newton.
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2. Not accordant with what is wished or expected;
interrupting; adverse; contrary; thwarting; perverse. "A
cross fortune." --Jer. Taylor.
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The cross and unlucky issue of my design.
--Glanvill.
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The article of the resurrection seems to lie
marvelously cross to the common experience of
mankind. --South.
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We are both love's captives, but with fates so
cross,
One must be happy by the other's loss. --Dryden.
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3. Characterized by, or in a state of, peevishness,
fretfulness, or ill humor; as, a cross man or woman.
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He had received a cross answer from his mistress.
--Jer. Taylor.
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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.
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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[deg]
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.
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