cross
- cross
The many ways in which material representations of the cross, and the gesture of prayer and blessing called the Sign of the Cross, are used in official religious rituals need not be listed here. At the level of folk custom and belief, the cross functions as a powerful protection against evil, and hence as a way of ensuring luck. Children draw a cross on themselves with thumb or finger (generally licking it first) as a form of oath, saying 'Cross my heart and wish I may die!' To draw it on one's shoe is said to cure cramps, and revive a foot that has 'gone to sleep'; Coleridge recalled this from his schooldays, with the rhyme:
Foot, foot, foot is fast asleep! Thumb, thumb, thumb in spittle we steep! Crosses three we make to ease us, Two for the thieves and one for Jesus!
(Table Talk (1835), ii. 59)
There are many references to marking bread-dough and cake mixtures with a cross before baking, to keep the Devil and witches away, so that they rise properly in cooking; other foods were sometimes protected in the same way. No witch could step over sticks or straws laid crossways, or enter through doors or chimneys where a cross had been carved; the symbol was therefore common on *witch posts and *threshold patterns.
A Dictionary of English folklore.
Jacqueline Simpson & Steve Roud.
2014.
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Look at other dictionaries:
Cross — (kr[o^]s), a. 1. Not parallel; lying or falling athwart; transverse; oblique; intersecting. [1913 Webster] The cross refraction of the second prism. Sir I. Newton. [1913 Webster] 2. Not accordant with what is wished or expected; interrupting;… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross — (kr[o^]s; 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}.] [1913… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross — Cross, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Crossed} (kr[o^]st; 115); p. pr. & vb. n. {Crossing}.] 1. To put across or athwart; to cause to intersect; as, to cross the arms. [1913 Webster] 2. To lay or draw something, as a line, across; as, to cross the letter t … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross — Cross, v. i. 1. To lie or be athwart. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 3. To be inconsistent. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross — Cross, prep. Athwart; across. [Archaic or Colloq.] [1913 Webster] A fox was taking a walk one night cross a village. L Estrange. [1913 Webster] {To go cross lots}, to go across the fields; to take a short cut. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross — For information on the Christian symbol, see Christian cross. For other uses, see Cross (disambiguation). A Greek cross (all arms of equal length) above a saltire, a cross whose limbs are slanted A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two… … Wikipedia
cross — I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from Old Norse or Old Irish; Old Norse kross, from Old Irish cros, from Latin cruc , crux Date: before 12th century 1. a. a structure consisting of an upright with a transverse beam used… … New Collegiate Dictionary
cross — See: AT CROSS PURPOSES, CARRY ONE S CROSS, DOUBLE CROSS, KEEP ONE S FINGERS CROSSED at CROSS ONE S FINGERS(1b) … Dictionary of American idioms
cross — See: AT CROSS PURPOSES, CARRY ONE S CROSS, DOUBLE CROSS, KEEP ONE S FINGERS CROSSED at CROSS ONE S FINGERS(1b) … Dictionary of American idioms
cross — Ordinary Or di*na*ry, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} ( r[i^]z). 1. (Law) (a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction in his own right, and not by deputation. (b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical; an… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Cross Game — volume 1 cover as published by Shogakukan, showing Ko (left) and Wakaba クロスゲーム … Wikipedia
