Crosier, Crozier, krō′zhėr, n. a cross mounted on a staff, borne before archbishops and patriarchs—often confounded with the pastoral staff.—adj. Crō′siered. [O. Fr. crocier—Late L. crociarius—L. crux, a cross.]
Cross, kros, n. a gibbet on which malefactors were hung, consisting of two pieces of timber, one placed crosswise on the other, either thus
Cross, kros, adj. lying across: transverse: oblique: opposite: adverse: ill-tempered: interchanged: dishonest: balancing, neutralising.—adv. across.—n. a crossing or mixing of breeds, esp. of cattle: something intermediate in character between two other things: dishonest practices, esp. in a sporting contest when one of the parties corruptly allows himself to be beaten.—v.t. to lay one body or draw one line across another: to cancel by drawing cross lines: to pass from side to side: to write across a bank-cheque the name of a banking company, or simply '& Co.' between the lines, to be filled up with the name of a banking company, through whom alone it may be paid: to obstruct: to thwart: to interfere with.—v.i. to lie or be athwart: to move or pass from place to place.—n. Cross′-ac′tion (law), an action brought by the defender against the pursuer in the same cause.—adjs. Cross′-armed, having the arms crossed: (bot.) brachiate; Cross′-band′ed, having the grain of the veneer run across that of the rail—of a hand-rail.—n. Cross′-bar, a transverse bar: a kind of lever.—adj. Cross′-barred.—ns. Cross′-beam, a large beam stretching across a building and serving to hold its sides together; Cross′-bench, in the House of Lords, certain benches so placed, on which independent members sometimes sit; Cross′-bill, a bill brought by the defendant in a Chancery suit against the plaintiff; Cross′-bill, a genus of birds resembling bullfinches, linnets, &c., with the mandibles of the bill crossing each other near the points; Cross′-birth, a birth in which the child lies transversely in the uterus.—v.t. Cross′bite, to bite the biter.—n.pl. Cross′-bones, a figure of two thigh-bones laid across each other—together with the skull, a conventional emblem of death.—ns. Cross′bow, a weapon for shooting arrows, formed of a bow placed crosswise on a stock; Cross′bower, -bowman, one who uses a crossbow.—adj. Cross′-bred.—ns. Cross′-breed, a breed produced by the crossing or intermixing of different races; Cross′-breed′ing; Cross′-butt′ock, a particular throw over the hip in wrestling; Cross′-cheque (see Cheque).—adj. Cross′-coun′try, across the fields rather than by the road.—n. Cross′-cut, a short road across from one point to another.—v.t. to cut across.—ns. Cross′cut-saw, a large saw worked by two men, one at each end, for cutting beams crosswise; Cross′-divi′sion, the division of any group into divisions that cut across each other and produce confusion.—adj. Crossed, marked by a line drawn crosswise, often denoting cancellation: folded: cruciate.—n. Cross′-examinā′tion.—v.t. Cross′-exam′ine, to test the evidence of a witness by subjecting him to an examination by the opposite party.—adj. Cross′-eyed, having a squint.—ns. Cross′-fertilisā′tion, the fecundation of a plant by pollen from another; Cross′-fire (mil.), the crossing of lines of fire from two or more points; Cross′-gar′net, a T-shaped hinge.—adjs. Cross′-gar′tered (Shak.), wearing the garters crossed on the leg; Cross′-grained, having the grain or fibres crossed or intertwined: perverse: contrary: intractable.—ns. Cross′-grain′edness; Cross′-guard, the bar, at right angles to the blade, forming the hilt-guard of a sword; Cross′-hatch′ing, the art of shading by parallel intersecting lines; Cross′-head, a beam across the head of something, esp. the bar at the end of the piston-rod of a steam-engine; Cross′ing, act of going across: the place where a roadway, &c. may be crossed: intersection: act of thwarting: cross-breeding.—adj. Cross′-legged, having the legs crossed.—adv. Cross′ly.—ns. Cross′ness; Cross′-patch, an ill-natured person; Cross′-piece, a piece of material of any kind crossing another: (naut.) a timber over the windlass, with pins for belaying the running rigging; Cross′-pur′pose, a contrary purpose: contradictory conduct or system: an enigmatical game; Cross′-quar′ters, an ornament of tracery like the four petals of a cruciform flower: a quatrefoil.—v.t. Cross′-ques′tion, to question minutely, to cross-examine.—ns. Cross′-ref′erence, a reference in a book to another title or passage; Cross′-road, a road crossing the principal road, a bypath; Cross′-row (same as Christ-cross-row); Cross′-sea, a sea that sets at an angle to the direction of the wind; Cross′-sill, a railroad sleeper lying under the rails transversely as a support to the stringer; Cross′-spring′er, a cross-rib in a groined vault; Cross′-staff, a surveying instrument consisting of a staff surmounted with a brass circle divided into four equal parts by two intersecting lines; Cross′-stone, chiastolite: staurolite: harmotome; Cross′-tie, in a railroad, a timber placed under opposite rails as a support; Cross′-tin′ing, a mode of harrowing crosswise.—n.pl. Cross′trees, pieces of timber placed across the upper end of the lower-masts and top-masts of a ship.—ns. Cross′-vault′ing, vaulting formed by the intersection of two or more simple vaults; Cross′way, a way that crosses another; Cross′-wind, an unfavourable wind, a side-wind.—adv. Cross′wise, in the form of a cross: across.—Cross as two sticks, particularly perverse and disagreeable.—Cross the path of any one, to thwart him; Cross one's mind, to flash across the mind.
Crosse, kros, n. the implement used in lacrosse.
Crossette, kro-set′, n. a small projecting part of an impost-stone at the extremity of an arch: a shoulder in an arch-stone fitting into the stone next to it. [Fr.]
Crotalaria, krō-ta-lā′ri-a, n. a genus of Leguminosæ, the rattlewort. [Gr. krotalon, a rattle.]