CRISS-CROSS


Meaning of CRISS-CROSS in English

/ 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 .

Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary.      Оксфордский английский словарь для изучающик язык на продвинутом уровне.