criss-cross
verb /ˈkrɪs krɒs/
/ˈkrɪs krɔːs/
[transitive, intransitive]Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they criss-cross | /ˈkrɪs krɒs/ /ˈkrɪs krɔːs/ |
| he / she / it criss-crosses | /ˈkrɪs krɒsɪz/ /ˈkrɪs krɔːsɪz/ |
| past simple criss-crossed | /ˈkrɪs krɒst/ /ˈkrɪs krɔːst/ |
| past participle criss-crossed | /ˈkrɪs krɒst/ /ˈkrɪs krɔːst/ |
| -ing form criss-crossing | /ˈkrɪs krɒsɪŋ/ /ˈkrɪs krɔːsɪŋ/ |
- to make a pattern on something with many straight lines that cross each other
- criss-cross (something) Searchlights were criss-crossing the sky.
- The smaller streets criss-cross in a grid pattern.
- be criss-crossed with something The city is criss-crossed with canals.
More Like This Reduplicative wordsReduplicative words- airy-fairy
- argy-bargy
- chit-chat
- criss-cross
- dilly-dally
- harum-scarum
- helter-skelter
- higgledy-piggledy
- hocus-pocus
- hoity-toity
- hotchpotch
- hurly-burly
- itty-bitty
- mumbo jumbo
- mishmash
- nitty-gritty
- ping-pong
- pitter-patter
- shilly-shally
- teeny-weeny
- tittle-tattle
- touchy-feely
- wishy-washy
Word Originearly 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.