Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CROSS'ING, ppr.

Drawing; running or passing a line over; erasing; canceling; thwarting; opposing; counteracting; passing over.

CROSS'-JACK, n. [cro-jeck.]

A sail extended on the lower yard of the mizzen mast: but seldom used. – Encyc.

CROSS'-LEG-GED, a.

Having the legs across.

CROSS'-LIKE, a.

Having the form of a cross.

CROSS'LY, adv.

1. Athwart; so as to intersect something else.
2. Adversely; in opposition; unfortunately.
3. Peevishly; fretfully.

CROSS'NESS, n.

Peevishness; fretfulness; ill humor; perverseness.

CROSS'-PATCH, n.

An ill-natured person. [Vulgar.] – Mem. of H. More.

CROSS'-PIECE, n.

A rail of timber extending over the windlass of a ship, furnished with pins with which to fasten the rigging, as occasion requires. – Encyc.

CROSS'-PUR-POSE, n.

A contrary purpose; contradictory system; also, a conversation in which one person does or pretends to misunderstand another's meaning. An enigma; a riddle. – Mason.

CROSS'-QUES-TION, v.t.

To cross-examine. – Killingbeck.

CROSS'-QUES-TION-ING, ppr.

Cross-examining.

CROSS'-ROW, n.

1. The alphabet, so named because a cross is placed at the beginning, to show that the end of learning is piety. – Johnson. Shak.
2. A row that crosses others.

CROSS'-SEA, n.

Waves running across others; a swell running in different directions.

CROSS'-STAFF, n.

An instrument to take the altitude the sun or stars.

CROSS'-STONE, n.

A mineral called also harmotome, and staurolite. It is almost always in crystals. Its single crystals are rectangular, four-sided prisms, broad or compressed, and terminated by four-sided pyramids, with rhombic faces, which stand on the lateral edges. But this mineral is generally found in double crystals, composed of two of the preceding crystals, so intersecting each other, that the two broader planes of one prism are perpendicular to the broader planes of the other, throughout their whole length. Its color is a grayish white or milk white, sometimes with a shade of yellow or red. – Cleaveland.

CROSS'-TIN-ING, n.

In husbandry, a harrowing by drawing the harrow or drag back and forth on the same ground. – Encyc.

CROSS'-TREES, n.

In ships, certain pieces of timber, supported by the cheeks and trestle-trees, at the upper ends of the lower masts, to sustain the frame of the top, and on the topmasts, to extend the top-gallant shrouds. – Mar. Dict.

CROSS'-WAY, or CROSS'-ROAD, n.

A way or road that crosses another road or the chief road; an obscure path intersecting the main road. – Johnson. Shak.

CROSS'-WIND, n.

A side wind; an unfavorable wind. – Boyle.

CROSS'WISE, adv.

Across; in the form of a cross.

CROSS'-WORT, n.

A plant of the genus Valantia.

CROTCH, n. [Fr. croc, a hook. See Crook and Crutch.]

1. A fork or forking; the parting of two legs or branches; as the crotch of a tree.
2. In ships, a crooked timber placed on the keel, in the fore and aft parts of a ship.
3. A piece of wood or iron, opening on the top and extending two horns or arms, like a half moon, used for supporting a boom, a spare topmast, yards, &c. – Mar. Dict.

CROTCH'ED, a.

Having a crotch; forked.

CROTCH'ET, n. [Fr. crochet, croche, from croc. See Crook.]

1. In printing, a book including words, a sentence or a passage distinguished from the rest, thus [ ].
2. In music, a note or character, equal in time to half a minim, and the double of a quaver, thus c.
3. A piece of wood resembling a fork, used as a support in building.
4. A peculiar turn of the mind; a whim, or fancy; a perverse conceit. All the devices and crotchets of new inventions. – Howell.

CROTCH'ET-ED, a.

Marked with crotchets.