recrossv.
/ˌriːˈkrɒs/, U.S. /ˌriˈkrɔs/, /ˌriˈkrɑs/ Frequently paired with cross v.† 3. transitive. To hinder or thwart (a person) again. Obsolete. rare.
1.
a. intransitive. To pass again over a line, boundary, river, channel, etc.; to pass again from one side to the other of a space.
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society > travel > [verb (intransitive)] > travel across or beyond > pass over again
recross?1478
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (intransitive)] > across > again
recross?1478
?1478 Lydgate's Horse, Goose & Sheep (Caxton) (1822) 29 A herte..yf he take ouer the ryuer he crossith; Yf he retorne, he recrosseth.
1779 H. Swinburne Trav. Spain xliii. 389 A very noble wood, where the deer are continually crossing and recrossing before you.
1792 T. Jefferson Negotiations with Spain 18 Mar. in Papers (1990) XXIII. 303 The channel of the Missisipi is remarkeably winding, crossing and recrossing perpetually from one side to the other.
1814 W. Scott Waverley II. xv. 228 His firelock on his shoulder, which glanced red in the light of the fire as he crossed and re-crossed before it in his short walk. View more context for this quotation
1822 J. Flint Lett. from Amer. 11 There is a rudder at each end, so that she can cross and re~cross, without putting about.
1847 Ld. Lindsay Sketches Hist. Christian Art I. p. cxlvii Helenus recrossed by himself, many monks looking on.
1881 Scribner's Monthly Aug. 510/2 Bathers in fantastic attire, both dry and wet, crossing and recrossing from the shelter of their rooms to the shelter of the waves.
1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xxxviii. 389 Other lights afloat were moving in the reach, crossing and recrossing from side to side.
1953 Jrnl. Egyptian Archeol. 39 71 The men would progress towards the other end of the board, perhaps crossing and re-crossing from one row to the other.
2007 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. b1 A native of the Mexican state of Chiapas, he said his brother had lived in the United States and was re-crossing to reunite with family members.
b. transitive. To pass again over (a line, boundary, river, channel, etc.); to pass again from one side to the other of (a space).
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > [verb (transitive)] > cross or pass over > pass over again
recross1632
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > movement over, across, through, or past > [verb (transitive)] > across > again
recross1632
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. i. 41 My purpose reaching for..Asia, as his was to recrosse the snowy Alpes.
1660 J. Dauncey Hist. Charles II 99 This march of the Royal Army made Cromwell with the greatest part of his forces immediately recrosse the Frith.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 111 By crossing and re-crossing the Line.
1754 W. Guthrie Friends II. 118 The Length of the Way was occasioned by their being often obliged to cross and re-cross the Street.
1830 J. F. Cooper Water Witch II. iii. 43 His boat was necessary to enable the party to re-cross the inlet.
1865 Harper's Mag. Apr. 580/1 General Banks, after a fortnight's rest, marched east, recrossed the Mississippi River, and commenced operations against Port Hudson.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles III. xlv. 89 Thus absorbed she recrossed the northern half of Long-Ash Lane at right angles.
1931 W. Faulkner Sanctuary i. 10 Watching the man in overalls recross the floor with a kind of alert diffidence.
1981 L. Deighton XPD xliv. 358 Stein might..give him a chance to recross the studio and escape.
2007 Evening Standard (Nexis) 15 Oct. c1 She sensed something was not right about this vehicle and crossed and re-crossed the road.
c. transitive. Of a number of things or people: to pass by or cross the path of (one another) again.
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1843 C. Dickens Christmas Carol iii. 80 Furrows that crossed and recrossed each other hundreds of times where the great streets branched off.
1856 C. Merivale Hist. Romans under Empire IV. xli. 529 The operations of industry, which cross and recross each other in the streets.
a1902 F. Norris Pit (1903) iii. 97 From all sides of the building, and in every direction they crossed and recrossed each other, always running, their hands full of yellow envelopes.
1921 J. E. C. Flitch tr. M. de Unamuno Tragic Sense of Life in Men & Peoples p. xxvii Thus a street..becomes..a loom where the passions and desires of men and women cross and recross each other and weave the cloth of daily life.
1973 Drama Rev. 17 86 Great shafts of light cross and recross each other.
2007 Western Morning News (Plymouth) (Nexis) 20 Nov. 26 The congregations crossed and re-crossed each other every Sabbath with polite but formal nods.
d. intransitive. Of a number of things or people: to pass by or cross the path of one another again; to intersect repeatedly.
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1850 H. Melville White-jacket xx. 99 They all lie on a level; their hammock clews crossing and recrossing in all directions, so as to present one vast field-bed.
1897 Appletons' Pop. Sci. Monthly Nov. 64 Streets and lanes cross and recross in delightfully hopskotch fashion.
1971 J. Blish Star Trek 4 24 Thousands of serpentine lines crossing and recrossing.
2003 Dance Mag. (Nexis) 1 June 58 Much of the excitement sprang from the intricate pathways of the ten dancers, as they crossed and recrossed, split up and lined up,..moved in canon and counterpoint.
2.
a. transitive. To overlay, mark, etc. (a surface) with repeated crossings. Chiefly in passive.
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1598 J. Marston Certaine Satyres in Metamorph. Pigmalions Image 51 How his clothes appeare Crost, and recrost with lace.
1846 C. Dickens Dombey & Son (1848) i. 1 The countenance of Son was crossed and recrossed with a thousand little creases.
1886 Pall Mall Gaz. 18 May 2/1 His back was..crossed and recrossed with bleeding wales.
1915 F. Hodgson Burnett Lost Prince xxiii. 226 Her old face was crossed and recrossed with a thousand wrinkles.
b. transitive. To lay (a thing) across another again. Now usually: to cross (one's legs) again.
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1796 H. Hunter tr. J.-H. B. de Saint-Pierre Stud. Nature II. 285 The trade-winds..sweep them [sc. clouds] away to the West, crossing and re-crossing them over one another.
1823 J. Wilson Fire-eater vii. 193 He..crossed and re-crossed his legs, until he obtained a posture, from its comfort likely to be permanent.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House xxxii. 316 ‘Tony,’ says Mr. Guppy, uncrossing and recrossing his legs again; ‘should you say that the original was a man's writing or a woman's?’
1893 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 24 Aug. With bright ribbons crossed and recrossed about his nimble legs.
1946 L. Z. Hobson Gentleman's Agreement (1947) iii. 44 He kept his eyes on the picture, but every time she moved her head, recrossed her legs, shifted about in any way, he knew it.
2007 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 5 June 14 She left fans wondering whether she was wearing knickers when she uncrossed then re-crossed her legs in the 1992 thriller.
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1612 J. Davies Muses Sacrifice sig. O2 For, when we first, to liue well, goe about, w'are crost and recrost by the Reprobate.
Derivatives
reˈcrossing n. and adj.
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1782 T. Paine Let. to Abbe Raynal 17 These, with some other circumstances, induced the re-crossing of the Delaware and taking possession of Trenton.
1799 C. B. Brown Edgar Huntly III. xxi. 28 I began to meditate the recrossing of the river.
1846 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1894) I. 208 Looking at the sea with its crossing and recrossing ships.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lxxvii. 378 The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil, formed by the crossing and re-crossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent.
1897 Daily News 14 Dec. 8/4 An actor was never allowed to turn his back on the audience. Certain ‘crossings’ and ‘re-crossings’ had to be rigidly attended to.
1953 Condor 55 40 In spite of many crossings and recrossings of the most heavily inhabited area observed the evening before, I was unable to locate a nest.
1992 Dancing Times May 751/1 The dancers' constant crossings and re-crossings of their arms make this a gesturally ornamented dance.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2009; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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