/ ˈkrɪs krɒs; NAmE krɔːs/ adjective , verb
■ adjective
[ usually before noun ] with many straight lines that cross each other :
a criss-cross pattern
► criss-cross noun [ sing. ]:
a criss-cross of streets
■ verb
to make a pattern on sth with many straight lines that cross each other :
[ vn ]
The city is criss-crossed with canals.
[also v ]
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WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent. (denoting a figure of a cross preceding the alphabet in a hornbook, an old fashioned teaching aid): from Christ-cross (in the same sense in late Middle English ), from Christ's cross . The form was later treated as a reduplication of cross .