In heraldry there are many, many different types of cross. Without further addition, a cross is the up-and-down, left-and-right variety, as in St George's cross, though thicker than normally depicted on the flag used for England.

One thing that is not a cross is the diagonal or St Andrew's and St Patrick's cross: this is called a saltire in heraldry.

The four arms of a plain cross meet in the centre, and extend all the way to the edge of the shield. When the arms do not meet the edge, as in the flag of Switzerland, it is called a cross couped.

A cross couped where the crossbar is higher than the centre, the normal Christian representation, is called a Passion Cross. If it further stands on a base of steps it is called a Cross Calvary; the steps are called grieces. A Passion Cross bearing the figure of Christ is called a crucifix.

A patriarchal cross is a cross couped with a second shorter crossbar above the main one. Outside heraldry this is called a cross of Lorraine.

A tau cross has only three pieces, the uppermost arm being omitted, and the arms curved outward.

A cross crosslet has short perpendicular crossbars near the ends of each of its arms. A cross potent has crossbars actually on the ends of the arms, that is it like four letters T joined in the centre. When the entire shield is covered in cross crosslets it is termed crusilly.

A Maltese cross is familiar: the arms spread outward, and the ends dip back in in an angle.

A cross fitched has its foot unlike the other three arms: it descends in a narrowing spike.

There are various terms describing how the ends of the arms may be altered in ornate ways. Botonny means having three rounded lumps; fleuretty means ending in a fleur-de-lys; there are also patonce, fleury, and moline, which would sound virtually the same described in words, variations on curved points at the ends.

American manufacturer of quality writing instruments. Cross was founded in 1846, making pencils and Stylographic pens. They now produce a full range, including roller ball pen and fountain pens. They have also made a range of products to compliment PDAs.

Cross is perhaps best known for slender ballpoint pens. In 1953, they started to produce their “Century” ballpoint, which is still in production today. If you are male and in the United States of America, you’ve probably received one as a graduation present at some point in your life.

Cross, an instrument of punishment consisting of two pieces of timber placed across each other, in various forms. It was used from the earliest time, especially throughout the Roman Empire, where crucifixion was regarded as the most infamous of deaths. By the death of Christ, the cross, from being an object of horror, became the symbol of the Christian world, and, from respect for this symbol, Constantine abolished the punishment throughout the Roman Empire.


Entry from Everybody's Cyclopedia, 1912.

Cross (kros; 115), 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.]

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.

Nailed to the cross
By his own nation.
Milton.

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.

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.

Before the cross has waned the crescent's ray.
Sir W. Scott.

Tis where the cross is preached.
Cowper.

3.

Affiction regarded as a test of patience or virtue; trial; disappointment; opposition; misfortune.

Heaven prepares a good man with crosses.
B. Jonson.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

7. (Her.)

A common heraldic bearing, of which there are many varieties. See the Illustration, above.

8.

The crosslike mark or symbol used instead of a signature by those unable to write.

Five Kentish abbesses . . . .subscribed their names and crosses.
Fuller.

9.

Church lands. [Ireland] [Obs.] Sir J. Davies.

10.

A line drawn across or through another line.

11. Hence:

A mixing of breeds or stock, especially in cattle breeding; or the product of such intermixture; a hybrid of any kind.

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

12. (Surveying)

An instrument for laying of offsets perpendicular to the main course.

13. (Mech.)

A pipe-fitting with four branches the axes of which usually form's right angle.

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 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.

 

© Webster 1913


Cross (kros), a.

1.

Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse; oblique; intersecting.

The cross refraction of the second prism.
Sir I. Newton.

2.

Not accordant with what is wished or expected; interrupting; adverse; contrary; thwarting; perverse. "A cross fortune." Jer. Taylor.

The cross and unlucky issue of my design.
Glanvill.

The article of the resurrection seems to lie marvelously cross to the common experience of mankind.
South.

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

3.

Characterized by, or in a state of, peevishness, fretfulness, or ill humor; as, a cross man or woman.

He had received a cross answer from his mistress.
Jer. Taylor.

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.

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.

 

© Webster 1913


Cross, prep.

Athwart; across. [Archaic or Colloq.]

A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village.
L'Estrange.

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

 

© Webster 1913


Cross, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crossed (kr?st; 115); p. pr. & vb. n. Crossing.]

1.

To put across or athwart; to cause to intersect; as, to cross the arms.

2.

To lay or draw something, as a line, across; as, to cross the letter t.

3.

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

A hunted hare . . . crosses and confounds her former track.
I. Watts.

4.

To pass, as objects going in an opposite direction at the same time. "Your kind letter crossed mine." J. D. Forbes.

5.

To run counter to; to thwart; to obstruct; to hinder; to clash or interfere with.

In each thing give him way; cross him in nothing.
Shak.

An oyster may be crossed in love.
Sheridan.

6.

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

To cross me from the golden time I look for.
Shak.

7.

To make the sign of the cross upon; -- followed by the reflexive pronoun; as, he crossed himself.

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.

9.

To cause to interbreed; -- said of different stocks or races; to mix the breed of.

To cross one's path, to oppose one's plans. Macaulay.

 

© Webster 1913


Cross, v. i.

1.

To lie or be athwart.

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.

3.

To be inconsistent. [Obs.]

Men's actions do not always cross with reason.
Sir P. Sidney.

4.

To interbreed, as races; to mix distinct breeds.

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

 

© Webster 1913


Cro`quante" (?), n. [F.]

A brittle cake or other crisp pastry.

Cross, v. t. --
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

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