noughts and crossesn.
/ˌnɔːts (ə)n(d) ˈkrɒsᵻz/, U.S. /ˌnɔts (ə)n(d) ˈkrɔsəs/, /ˌnɑts (ə)n(d) ˈkrɔsəs/, /ˌnɔts (ə)n(d) ˈkrɑsəs/, /ˌnɑts (ə)n(d) ˈkrɑsəs/ A game in which two players seek to complete a row of either three noughts or three crosses, each one drawn alternately in the spaces of a grid of nine squares. Also called (esp. U.S.) tic-tac-toe. Cf. oughts and crosses n. at ought n.2
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society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > children's game > other children's games > [noun] > noughts and crosses
tit-tat-toe1856
oughts and crosses1861
noughts and crosses1864
X's and O's1894
tick-tack-toe1960
1864 Littell's Living Age 22 Oct. 182/1 Mr Babbage..has proceeded some way towards the invention of an automaton intended to play at the very simple game called indifferently ‘noughts and crosses’ or ‘tit-tat-to’.
1894 K. Grahame Pagan Papers 140 True, noughts-and-crosses might be indulged in.
1957 Technology July 182/2 Any game of a finite kind which can be completed in a finite number of moves—and this includes simple games like noughts and crosses as well as draughts and chess—must have a decision procedure.
1987 K. Lette Girl's Night Out (1989) 192 Nervous, I played noughts and crosses with my nail in the board wax while the boys talked.
2001 Camcorder User June 22/3 Imagine that your screen is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically in a noughts and crosses-style grid.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1864