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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III). Includes material from the 1976 and 2005 supplements.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

CROSS, n., v., adj. Also croass. Sc. forms and usages of Eng. cross. The spelling kross is also found in Sh.

I. n.

Sc. form of Eng. cross (Edb., Ayr., Rxb. 2000s).Gsw. 1999 Paul Foy in Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke New Writing Scotland 17: Friends and Kangaroos 47:
First thing, they aw starts makin the sign eh the croass, like they've scored for Celtic ur sumthin.

Sc. usages:

1. A market-place (orig. from the site of the market-cross). Gen.Sc., but now usu. as a place-name.Sc. 1724–27 Ramsay T. T. Misc. (1733) 61:
When ye gae to the cross then, . . . Buy me a pacing horse then.Ags. 1832–46 A. Laing in Whistle-Binkie (4th Series) 9:
He keeps the braw shop at the cross o' the clachan.w.Sc. 1865 A. Smith Summer in Skye II. 166:
We reached an open square, or cross, as it would be called in Scotland, more crowded, if possible, than the narrow streets.

2. A cairn; a pile of stones on a hill-top.Peb. 1775 Capt. Armstrong Tweedale 49:
These piles of stones are often termed, Cairn, Pike, Currough, Cross, etc.

3. Phr.: to have one's crosses on, to cross the middle and index fingers of one's hands, orig. as a protection against evil. Now used by children in games such as Tig. A person who has his crosses on cannot be caught by “it.”Ork. 1929 E. Linklater White Maa's Saga 265:
Unconsciously he had been holding the middle and index fingers of his left hand firmly crossed [as a protection against magic]. Children call it, “crosses on.”

4. Combs.: (1) cross-fish, the star-fish, Asterias (Sh. 1866 Edm. Gl., Sh. 1975). Cf. corse-fish s.v. Corse n. Also in Eng. dial.; (2) cross-mark, kross-, (a) “a person scarred by burning” (E.D.D. Suppl.); (b) “a helpless person; a cripple” (Sh. 1914 Angus Gl., kross-); (c) in phr. to mak' ane a kross mark, “to thrash one so that the marks are visible to everyone, to maltreat” (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928)); (3) cross roupin(g), a sale by auction at the public cross; “sales by auction at the Cross of a Burgh are ordered by the sheriff, gen. for rent or other debts unpaid” (Sc. 1898 A.W. in E.D.D.); (4) cross-weed, “? the spotted persicaria” (ne.Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.).(2) (a) Sh. 1898 Shet. News (12 Feb.):
Kitty Green, whose son was a “cross-mark,” he having been in early youth burned about the neck and chin.(3) Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 134:
At ilka puir bodie's cross roupin' . . . You're sure to see Tam an' his drum.

5. A coin, a piece of money, in gen., orig. from the figure of a cross stamped on it. Now obs. in Eng. exc. dial. wm.Sc. 1903 S. Macplowter Mrs McCraw 35:
A've never gien a cross tae the kirk.Lnk. 1884 J. Nicholson Willie Waugh 100:
For days an'weeks he hadna earn'd a cross.

II. v.

Sc. form of Eng. cross (Edb., Ayr., Rxb. 2000s).Gsw. 1990 John and Willy Maley From the Calton to Catalonia 36:
Ye know, jist before ah goat taken, we wur croassin a field.m.Sc. 1994 Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay Forever Yours, Marie-Lou 7:
MANON You've niver stoapped fur two seconds tae think aboot what he done, hiv ye? His it niver croassed your mind that...
CARMEN That what?
MANON Och, nothin...nothin.

Sc. usages:

†1. To deny, contradict. This meaning has been obs. in Eng. since early 18th cent. (last quot. in N.E.D. 1702).Abd. 1768 A. Ross Helenore 77:
I hae his hand, his troth, an' what needs mair, Cros't gin he can, just where he's standing there.

2. Used impers. in speaking of time: to reach (from the movement of the hands of a clock).Ayr. 1887 J. Service Dr. Duguid 224:
She wad been seen maist ony nicht, . . . juist as it was crossin' eleven, gatherin' a gowpenfu' o' worms.

3. To harrow a field across the ploughing (Abd.², Abd.⁹ 1941; Arg.¹ 1937).Bnff.² 1941:
I ga'e yon ley feedle ae strip up an' doon, an' cross't it twice.

4. To mark (a witch) with the sign of the cross on her forehead in order to frustrate her evil spells, to score abune the breath (see Score, v., 1.). Rs. 1864 St Andrews Gazette (20 Aug.):
'Crossing' a Witch-A notorious character, well known in the parish as ' Neil's wife'-a reputed witch-underwent the ordeal of crossing at the hands of a worthy cobbler whom she had threatened with the evil effects of her craft. The cobbler drew the awl twice across her forehead in opposite directions (drawing blood, of course), and Neil's wife became in his eyes as another woman.

5. Phr.: cross-stick war, a fight with sticks, cudgel play.Gsw. 1873 A. G. Murdoch Lilts 12:
Unfauld thysel! frae bush or scaur Stap oot, an' gie me cross-stick war.

III. adj.

†1. Vexatious, untoward. This meaning has been obs. in Eng. since 18th cent. (see N.E.D.).Slk. 1829 Hogg Shepherd's Calendar I. iv.:
In the event of any cross accident, or vexatious circumstance, happening to him, he makes straight towards his easy chair — sits calmly down upon it . . . then . . . indulges in a pleasant laugh.

2. Combs.: (1) cross dyke, one of the two dykes on the arable of a farm under the old system of agriculture. It divided the arable in half and stood at right angles to the head dyke which divided the arable from the pasture; (2) cross gang, “a small bundle of straw laid across the mouth of the scoo to support the bait” (Crm. 1911 D. Finlayson W.-L.); (3) cross-house (see quot.); Hist.; (4) cross-road, in mining: “a main road driven at a more moderate inclination than directly to the rise of the strata” (Sc. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 21); (5) cross-skeppack, = (6) (Inv. 1904 E.D.D. s.v. skeppack); (6) cross-tig, a variety of the game of “tig” (Sc. 1911 S.D.D.; Kcb.¹ 1941); †(7) cross-tree, (a) a whipple-tree (Sc. 1794 Scots Mag. (May) 240); (b) a cross-beam.(1) ne.Sc. 1924 I. F. Grant Old Highland Farm 1769–82 40:
The cross dykes ran down from the head dykes at right angles.(3) Sc. 1927 W. M. Mackenzie Mediæval Castle in Scot. 175:
The outer projecting tower was known as the “cross-house.”(6) Ags. 1874 Report on Endowed Schools II. 350:
Cross-tig, Scotch and English, Jackson, etc. Kcb. 1902 Crockett Dark o' the Moon xxv.:
The children's game which is called "cross-tig". This consists in the pursuer following one quarry only till another darts between pursuer and pursued, when the hunter instantly turns his attention to quarry number two, till such time as the trial is crossed by quarry number three.(7) (a) Lth. 1762 A. Dickson Agric. (1785) I. ii. 258:
Instead of using a soam, and cross trees for the second pair, as is commonly done in a four horse plough.(b) Sc. 1773 Weekly Mag. (18 Feb.) 254:
Two men went into the kiln at night and took off from the cross-trees the straw on which the corn had been dried.