cross your fingers


cross your fingers

Hope for good luck or that something will happen. The actual gesture, which does not have to accompany the phrase, involves crossing one's middle finger over the index finger as a superstition believed to bring good luck or ward off bad luck. OK, I'm going to turn on the machine for the first time. Here goes—cross your fingers, everyone!See also: cross, finger

cross your fingers (or keep your fingers crossed)

hope that your plans will be successful; trust in good luck. The gesture of putting your index and middle fingers across each other as a sign of hoping for good luck is a scaled-down version of the Christian one of making the sign of the Cross with your whole hand and arm as a request for divine protection. It is also superstitiously employed when telling a deliberate lie, with the idea of warding off the evil that might be expected to befall a liar. 1998 Spectator Since resources were limited … the only hope the clients had was to hang in there, fingers crossed. See also: cross, finger