释义 |
across, adv., prep. and a.|əˈkrɒs| Also aphetically cross. [a prep.1 in + cross. Cf. Fr. encroix, whence Caxton's in cross, perh. the earliest form.] A. adv. 1. In the form of a cross, crosswise, crossing each other, crossed.
1480Caxton Chron. Eng. cxciv. 170 Syr hugh spencer..fell doune vpon the grounde by the see bank acros with his armes and thryes kist the grounde. 1485― Chas. the Gt. 239 He layed hys armes vpon hys body in maner of a crosse. Ibid. 240 He fonde Rolland expyred, hys hondes in crosse vpon hys vysage. 1590Webbe Trauailes (1868) 25 Two kniues are layde acrosse vpon the loafe. 1646H. Lawrence Com. & Warre w. Angels 117 Thinke not to goe to heaven with your armes acrosse. 1771Foot Penseroso iii. 120 Yonder, tow'rds the east A warrior frowns in stone, his legs across. 1826Wordsworth Poems on Affec. xi. Wks. 1849 I. 152 Pine not like them with arms across. 2. a. In a position or direction crossing the length-line of anything, transversely; hence, from side to side, or corner to corner, through.
1523Fitzherbert Husb. (1534) F 5 The whiche blyster must be slytte with a knyfe a-crosse. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 178 H'as broke my head a-crosse, and has giuen Sir Toby a bloody Coxcombe too. 1774Phil. Trans. LXIV. 355, I found it impossible to saw it directly a-cross. 1850Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. ix. 71, I jumped right on to the ice, and how I got across I don't know. Mod. Was the Channel rough when you came across? b. Naut.
1633Stafford Pac. Hib. viii. (1821) 325 And ride with their yards a crosse. 1794Nelson in Nicolas Disp. & Lett. (1845) I. 504 [Ships] of the Line, sails bent, some with top-gallant yards across. c. to come across (with): to hand over, contribute (money, information, etc.). slang (orig. U.S.).
1910Sat. Even. Post 13 Aug. 8/1, I knew pull was required..but I hadn't learned that I'd have to come across with the price as well. 1915J. London Jacket viii. 62 You might as well come across now and save trouble. 1928D. L. Sayers Lord Peter views Body 16, I think you ought to come across with the rest of the story. 1938Wodehouse Summer Moonshine ix. 99 He hinted that one had got to come across. 1948M. Allingham More Work for Undertaker xxii. 253 ‘Did she admit it?’ ‘Yes... But she wouldn't come across till dawn.’ d. Of a crossword clue: relating to a word that is to be written in on a horizontal line of the puzzle; of the solution to such a clue or the spaces in which it is to be written: along a horizontal line of the puzzle. Often after the clue number. Cf. down adv. 1 b.
1924C. Layng Cross-Word Puzzles 7 We now have..the first two letters of No. 7 across. 1944T. A. Bott How to make Crossword Puzzles i. 5 Avoid two-letter spaces, either Across or Down. 1960G. W. Target Teachers 47 ‘Good morning, Purnell,’ said Woodgate from about seven across and nine down in his crossword, ‘though it's really rather cold, isn't it?’ 1971R. Rendell One Across iii. 30 He filled in 28 across, which completed his puzzle. 1986Times 5 Sept. 12/2 His technique is to start at 1 across and then go to 1 down. 3. In a position actually or potentially the result of crossing anything; on the other side.
1816Scott Old Mort. 146 Lord Evandale..was no sooner across than he was charged by the left body of the enemy's cavalry. Mod. At this rate we shall soon be across. 4. Not straight or directly; obliquely, athwart, awry, amiss. Obs. exc. dial. Cf. B. 1 c.
1559Mirr. for Mag. 344 (T.) When king and queen saw things thus go across, To quiet all, a parliament they called. 1615Bp. Hall Contempl. iii. vii. 64 The squint-eyed pharisees looke a-crosse at all the actions of Christ. 1687R. Lestrange Answ. Dissenter 8 This Gentleman will needs set them on a-Cross, and then Exclayme against them as [the most Contrary Things in the World]. 1887Baring-Gould Red Spider I. vii. 110 When folks who look straight before them fall across. Ibid., The two who have got across. 1891S. Weyman New Rector ix. 173 Lindo must beware of getting across with him. 1892Cornh. Mag. July 28 Matters were soon across again between the pair. 1897Daily News 4 Mar. 6/1 He is getting across with the farmers now, for he roundly rates them on account of their apathy. B. prep. [The adv. with obj. expressed.] 1. Direction: In a direction forming a cross with, or transverse to; a. at right angles with.
1634Brereton Trav. (1844) 45 A long table..placed length⁓ways in an aisle which stands over across the church. 1697Potter Antiq. Greece I. viii. (1715) 42 A Partition..reaching quite cross the Theater. 1742Young Night Th. iv. 721 Faith builds a bridge across the gulph of death. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague i. i. 77 How idly hangs that arch magnificent, Across the idle river. 1830Tennyson Lady Clara Vere 31 But there was that across his throat Which you had hardly cared to see. 1860Tyndall Glaciers i. §12, 88 A line set across the fissured portion [of the ice]. b. at any angle with; sideways or obliquely against. to come across: to come upon or meet obliquely, indirectly, or unintentionally.
a1626Bacon (T.) The harp hath the concave not along the strings, but across the strings. 1747Collins The Passions (1830) 61 When Cheerfulness, a nymph of healthiest hue, Her bow across her shoulder flung. 1816J. Wilson City of Plague ii. ii. 211 Across our gracious lady's bed A blast hath come as from the grave. 1860Dickens Uncomm. Trav. vii. (1866) 49/2 A wind very like the March east wind of England, blew across me. 1876Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 191 We come across more than one incidental mention of those wars. Mod. I ran across him in the City yesterday. c. to get across: to annoy, get on the wrong side of (someone). slang.
1926D. L. Sayers Clouds of Witness i. 30 One was always getting across Denver, but it never came to anything. 1960M. Stewart My Brother Michael xiv. 183 He's got across that damned Greek. 2. a. Motion: From side to side of; quite through, over, in any direction except lengthwise. across the country: straight through between two points, without regard to the regular roads; not along the regular roads. across lots (U.S.): see lot n. 6 a.
1591Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, iv. i. 114, I charge thee waft me safely crosse the Channell. 1611― Wint. T. iv. iv. 15 When my good Falcon made her flight a-crosse Thy Fathers ground. 1728Thomson Spring 439 You, now retiring, following now Across the stream, exhaust his idle rage. 1784Cowper Task vi. 275 Pushing iv'ry balls Across a velvet level. 1832Tennyson Miller's Dau. 32 After dinner talk Across the walnuts and the wine. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 573 He was directed to hasten thither across the country. 1866Geo. Eliot F. Holt xlvi. 402 A sort of gleam seemed to shoot across his face. 1866J. Martineau Ess. I. 372 A footman will run your errand across the town. 1876G. O. Trevelyan Life & Lett. Macaulay II. i. 16 All its associations and its traditions swept at once across his memory. 1879Tennyson Lover's T. 9 Permit me, friend, I prythee To pass my hand across my brows. b. Phr. across the footlights: from the performers to the audience; hence advb. (by ellipsis) in to get or come across (to), to reach the audience or the public, to make oneself or itself understood or appreciated; similarly to get it across. (For to put it across see put v.1)
1894G. B. Shaw Let. 11 June (1965) 443, I want to see how much of it they succeed in getting across the footlights. 1913Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 190 Tell a fellow now, did I get it across? 1921Sat. Westm. Gaz. 27 Aug. 14/2 Some vitality that may be as far away as you like from lifelikeness..but nevertheless gets across to the reader from the writer. 1923Silberrad Lett. Jean Armiter vi. 148 Sorry—my fault—one fails to get across. 1923Westm. Gaz. 27 Feb., It is very doubtful whether the play would get across the footlights in an ordinary run. Ibid. 26 Mar., ‘Magda’, dressed as a comedy of manners of a hundred years ago, would probably come across more satisfactorily than it does played as..contemporary tragedy. 1927Observer 16 Oct. 15/3 The lower comedy is at present in the making, but Miss B. C., Mr. E. M. and Mr. L. H. are experts at getting it across. 1927Daily Tel. 19 July 12/4 The Earl of Birkenhead..said..he had never succeeded in projecting his personality across the footlights. c. across the board (esp., with hyphens, as attrib. phr.). (See quot. 1950.) U.S.
1950Webster Addenda. Across-the-board, embracing all classes or categories without exception;—from placing a combination wager on a race horse to win, place, or show, that is, betting ‘across the board’; as, an across-the-board tax cut. 1958Listener 24 July 116/2 There is a common cliché among labour relations specialists in the United States that it is not the across-the-board wage increase..which is decisive. 1961Flight LXXX. 134/2 There has been no across-the-board reduction since tourist fares were introduced eight years ago. 1964R. D. Hopper in I. L. Horowitz New Sociology xix. 317 Job displacement..is occurring right across the board. d. Distribution: from one side of (a country, etc.) to the other; throughout. Chiefly N. Amer.
1950[see sense 2 c]. 1961L. Hughes Ask your Mama 43 They know me, too, downtown, All across the country, Europe—Me who used to be nobody. 1968Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 5/7 The teen-agers arrive with a petition that has been going around high schools across the province since the fall. 1978Times 10 Mar. 16 The money raised in Oxfam shops across Britain goes to create employment opportunities..in poor countries throughout the world. 3. Position: On the other side of, beyond, over.
c1750Jacobite Toast, ‘The King across the water!’ 1855Tennyson Daisy 92 To lands of summer across the sea. Mod. The great republic across the Atlantic. C. adj. Of a crossword clue: referring to a word that fills spaces along a horizontal line of the puzzle. See sense 2 c of the adv. Cf. down a. 1 f.
1925C. Layng Layng's Junior Cross-word Puzzles 8 Running slowly through the ‘across’ definitions. 1963D. St. P. Barnard Anat. Crossword ii. 37 Some enthusiasts even went to the extent of making a duplicate pattern and working the Across clues on one, and the Down clues on the other. 1986Times 5 Sept. 12/2, I believe that setters usually start with the Across clues... The Down clues..are usually easier. |