cross-roadn.
1. A road crossing another, or running across between two main roads; a by-road.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > road > [noun] > minor road or side road
lateral1578
by-road1673
vicinal way or road1677
side road1691
cross-road1719
branch-road1831
feeder1855
secondary road1903
feeder road1959
1719 T. Gardner (title) Pocket Guide to the English Traveller..of all the Principal Roads and Cross Roads in England and Wales.
1745 Priv. Lett. Ld. Malmesbury I. 14 The cross-roads are almost impassible.
1859 W. Collins Queen of Hearts I. 12 One of the loneliest and wildest cross-roads in all South Wales.
2.
a. The place where two roads cross each other; the place of intersection of two roads. Also called the cross roads, and dialect a four-cross-road.Formerly used as a burial-place for suicides.
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society > travel > means of travel > route or way > way, path, or track > junction of roads, paths, or tracks > [noun] > cross-roads
carfax1357
carfour1477
cross1546
cross-way?1556
quatervois?1575
four-way1598
four-crosswaya1645
crossing1695
four-went way(s1777
cross-road1812
cross-street1825
intersectiona1864
1812 Examiner 23 Nov. 739/1 Verdict of the Jury—Felo de se..The body was..buried in a cross-road, with the customary ceremonies.
1826 T. Hood Faithless Nelly Gray in Whims & Oddities 142 And they buried Ben in four cross-roads With a stake in his inside!
1875 W. McIlwraith Guide Wigtownshire 27 Near the cross-roads are the remains of a cairn.
b. figurative (usually plural). A point at which two or more courses of action diverge; a critical turning-point.
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the world > existence and causation > occurrence > [noun] > critical point or crisis
point?c1225
conjuncture1619
crise1643
juncture1656
crisis1659
hinge1775
cross-road1795
the world > existence and causation > existence > state or condition > circumstance or circumstances > [noun] > juncture or critical point
timeeOE
point?c1225
state of time (also times)1534
pass1560
conjuncture1619
juncture1656
hinge1775
cross-road1795
contingency1803
1795 S. J. Pratt Gleanings through Wales I. xv. 238 Join with me..that they may speedily be conducted from the cross roads of life.
1852 Hogg's Instructor 8 90/1 He had met with four cross-roads, and he knew not which to follow.
1898 National Rev. Aug. 908 To place him at the cross roads of starvation and revolt.
1915 War Illustr. 6 Mar. 54 Britons at cross-roads of Honour, Glory and Death.
1924 E. Y. Mullins (title) Christianity at the cross roads.
c. dirty work at the cross-roads: see dirty adj. 2b.
3. attributive.
a. Passing or conveyed by cross-roads.
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1720 London Gaz. 16 Apr. General Post-Office, London, April 12, 1720..His Majesty's Attorney-General, having granted to Ralph Allen..a Farm of all the Bye-Way or Cross-Road Letters throughout England.]
1725 London Gaz. No. 6415/2 The Cross-Road Mail which..goes between Chester and Exeter.
1785 Gentleman's Mag. Oct. 838/2 Comptroller of the bye and cross-road letter office.
b. (Also cross-roads.) Situated at the crossing of two roads; spec. in U.S. with the implication of smallness, cheapness, etc.
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1845 Southern Literary Messenger 11 586/1 The country merchant and cross-road store-keeper.
1846 E. Bryant Jrnl. 19 June in What I saw in California (1848) vii. 98 The place had something of the air of a cross-roads settlement.
1863 W. Phillips Speeches xix. 430 Every cross-road bar-room.
1868 Putnam's Mag. June 715/1 Now and then an enterprising specimen of the breed set up a ‘cross-roads grocery’.
1869 Champaign Co. (Illinois) Gaz. 26 May 1/2 Defer the payments we may have promised to Cross-roads politicians.
1884 ‘C. E. Craddock’ Tenn. Mts. i. 21 I dunno whether ye holped ter rob the cross-roads store or no.
1905 Forum Apr. 485 To place an obstacle in the way of the cross-roads politicians.
1935 Amer. Speech 10 5/2 A small crossroads community in Vermont.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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